So, I’m going to turn 20 in a few months and will be entering my 3rd year of college. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the fact that I don’t really have any female friends. I only have a few male friends too, which I’m mostly okay with, but sometimes I feel like I want someone I can genuinely open up to.

Back when I was in 9th grade, I had a small friend group of four people—2 guys and 2 girls. We were free from all the pressure of studies and used to go out almost every evening. Looking back, it was probably one of the best times of my life.

Things changed when 11th grade started. I chose a different stream from them, and slowly everything started going downhill. We stopped meeting regularly, then slowly stopped talking, and after a few incidents, we completely stopped seeing each other.

The other three were still friends, and eventually I was basically replaced by someone else in the group. Even when we were at some common event and came face-to-face, I wouldn’t talk to them. My thought process was basically, “Why talk to them when there’s no need?”

During 11th and 12th, I didn’t make any new friends either. Not in school, not in coaching, nowhere. I never really approached strangers to get to know them because it just felt pointless to me at the time.

Now I’m almost 20, entering my 3rd year of college, and I only have a few male friends and no female friends at all. I’ve also never been in a relationship or had a close female friend since that old friend group fell apart.

But now I feel like I actually want to open up to someone and build new connections. The problem is, I feel low-key afraid when I think about approaching a girl I don’t know. I guess it’s mostly the fear of rejection or making things awkward.

I don’t even necessarily mean approaching someone for a relationship. I just want to become more comfortable talking to people, especially girls, and maybe build genuine friendships again.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? How did you start putting yourself out there again after years of not making new friends?

(Used GPT to format the post)

Almost 20, no female friends, and I’ve forgotten how to make new connections