I feel left out at school

[Kaden]

I am the quiet kid at school and I feel completely lonely and left out of everything. I tried to join an online chat for my hobbies last night to make friends, but / was rejected and hidden from the channel, which made me feel completely invisible and overwhelmed. I can talk to my mum fine, but school and making friends is still really hard. I am reaching out because / want to learn practical skills to help me connect with people, speak up, and feel less alone."

[Psychdiaries2]

Hi there Kaden,

Welcome to the forums, I'm glad you found us. I'm sorry to hear you were hidden from the online channel, that's not nice and I know it made you feel alone and invisible. In terms of practical advice for making friends, I would say sometimes all it takes is to open up a conversation. For example, if you know of a classmate that has a similar interest as you like if you see they barrack for the same footy team or have the same hobby or something like that, if you get the chance you could say something about that. I know it's scary starting up a convo but it is worth it, even if it's just small talk. I was at a birthday party and knew that this girl goes to the same uni as me, so I started off by asking her about it. I'm pretty shy, so it wasn't easy but after rehearsing what I was going to say in my head, I pushed myself to just go for it. We ended up chatting for a bit which was nice. 

I hope this helps. I'm sure the others on here, especially the extroverts, can give you some tips too. I'm sure you will build up some confidence and remember that making friends takes a lot of time to get to know someone and be comfortable with them.

All the best,

PsychDiaries

[Jay4581]

Little honest curiosities that you genuinely enjoy, share them with others when you notice them. It could be something like, I love that, that's cool, or a genuine response of wow, that's amazing, how do you do that. 

You already know what lights you up, you just gotta let others know and respond out loud so they can find you. 

Start at your own pace, be light about it, and for the unwanted things that come your way, who cares is a good word, why would you care that someone rejects the interests you have or doesn't want to befriend you. Clearly that's not what you want, be thankful you're not going to be the one carrying that person's baggage and judgment around with you through your life. 

Like the old song says 

From little things big things grow