Hey guys, I’m hoping to get some advice on how to deal with a problem I’ve been having in social situations.
Whenever I’m in a social situation, I fuck it up because I always feel this intense pressure to be the funniest or wittiest person in the room. I spend so much time overthinking and trying to come up with the perfect joke or comment that I end saying fuck all.
I know that this is a really high standard to hold myself to, and it’s causing me to miss out on a fuck ton of potentially great interactions with others. Even when I do manage to come up with something really good, I tend to doubt it so much that my delivery shits itself, killing the joke, in turn leading me to believe the joke was shit. I think I’ve severely fucked up my perception of whats funny. 9 times out of 10 when my friends find a joke someone made really funny I get fucking dumbfounded on why.
I constantly feel like I have to be picture-perfect in the conversation. I neurotically dodge people that actually might want to get to know to me just so I can make a better first impression in the future for some reason. I literally treat walking around campus like a fucking metal gear game, timing my walking speeds to avoid going into the line of sight of people and shit.
I know for a fact that I if I just went out there with complete indefatigable confidence in myself and what I say, I could be so much more fucking happy.
How do I stop holding my self to these fucking skyhigh standards?