I intentionally stopped helping my classmates

I’m (23) in my first year in my second major and at the beginning of the year, i decided to change my attitude and be nicer and more helpful to people. Usually my friends say that I act like a cold a-hole until some sort of bond is formed. I wanted to change that so I could befriend people from the same field to form some kind of network.

I admit I am a little shy around people I don’t know and that’s mostly because I was bullied a lot when I was a child. So, I usually don’t reach out unless I’m 100% sure that I won’t come off as annoying.

Anyways, I assumed being more open and helpful would help me get over my anxiety but it backfired immediately. People started to mock me for no apparent reason (maybe because of the age gap?) and this obviously upset me cause I still cannot comprehend why someone would make fun of a person who’s just trying to help?

So I made a vow that I’d keep to myself and whenever someone asks for help- be it small or big- I just leave them on seen. Sometimes even the smallest problem turns into a huge argument that could’ve been avoided but I just watch. It satisfies and saddens me at the same time.