So, who else here struggled to pick up the “go away, you’re not wanted” social cue as a kid, which has made them so overly cautious as an adult that they end up having cool conversations with cool people but don’t want to be too friendly in case they’re missing the cue, and so end up making those cool people think that you don’t want to be friends with them?
Because, like, this is the Number One Thing that has fucked me up as an adult and I am so grateful to my friends who didn’t stop talking to me while I slowly figured out that, yes, they did actually want to be friends.
How about picking up the “go away, you’re not wanted” vibes so well that even years later, you struggle to ask to be included in something that people are talking about. Because every instinct has been trained that if you aren’t specifically asked to join, you’ll be told “we didn’t mean YOU!”
