I’ve prided myself with becoming more independent lately–
(got my first job 3 months ago, finally have my own money to spend and save but I only spend time with my born-with family since i have no irl friends since school)

I’m finding it hard to genuinely connect with others.
When I go to work, I do my job the best I know how, connect with coworkers only at a basic level through asking questions about the job or a little bit of work related-ness..but the depth never really reaches that far. I never know what interesting thing I could bring up mainly because I get stressed working in the fast-paced retail environment. I’m usually always occupied but when we have a breather or our breaks, its not like its consistent of whose breaks are together..but also the few times i have eaten in our work lunch room, people either have kept to themselves, been on their phones, or hang with similar ethnicities and speak in their ownlanguage, or long term employees hang with the other long-termers.

Little more backstory:
I’ve had a few coworkers burn me by showing they didnt want to be friends cause they would intentionally ignore my hello’s or diliberately sit away from me (no idea why-except maybe cause i was a bit awkward at the start?)

But to continue..(for the others)
It’s like I wish there was an icebreaker so we could get to know eachother cause idk how..and im also the type of person to not want to “disturb” other people , especially if they might be stressed from work. Its hard… and not only that, im working on an issue i have with being self concious eating in front of people. Any advice would be amazing, thank you anyone :]

Tldr: Grew up with social anxiety, got my first job recently (3 months in), burned by a few coworkers, difficulty trusting and connecting with coworkers in a more personal way, would love to hear any ideas or suggestions :]

1 comment
  1. Are you sure you were “burned” by these colleagues, as you put it?

    How do they behave in general around others?

    Maybe they also have some socialization troubles?

    I say this because I realized I may have hurt some people in the past because I’m so focused in my own thoughts, even when I’m having lunch.

    If someone says hello in a room full of people I probably mumble a barely-audible response.

    Since my social interactions all seem to have a certain chance of me looking like an idiot to others I keep to myself and even try to have lunch when no one else is…

    I also feel like you everyday as well, by the way… except I haven’t been making that much effort at work. So far I’ve mostly been keeping the interactions limited to work-related issues.

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