how do I make friends after being in online school for 7 years

Advice

so in an attempt to make a very long story short

I live in a very small town with a population of a little over 1000 with my dad and grandpa, (I’m a girl btw)
there is a school here that my dad asked if I wanted to go to when I first moved here when I was 9 and I said no cause my other option was online school, so I chose online school cause I’ve seen ads for it and it seemed cool.

anyway, since 2019 I’ve been in online school but I can’t really say I have cause I don’t log in and am very far behind and a lot of other things but I also haven’t had friends in 6 years cause I developed really bad social anxiety, depression and body dysmorphic disorder throughout the pandemic, I’m very isolated, I don’t leave my room let alone my house often, the reason being is because I think I’m ugly so I don’t want people to see me, that’s gotten a little better over the years but now I’m about to be 16 and I haven’t had friends since I was 9-10.

I haven’t even had online friends.. but I want in person friends because I’m tired of being in my room and house all the time, I want friends I can hang out with and share interest and go places, and I don’t want to make friends online either cause if they ask to see my face I won’t show them because I refuse to be on camera, if I make a friend I want it to be cause we met somewhere in person and they already know what I look like so I don’t gotta send a picture of myself or something if we message online.

and I refuse to go to in person school cause I’m very under socialized so I’m scared and again, I think I’m ugly so I don’t wanna be seen or potentially bullied.

I went to a convention a couple months ago, I thought maybe I could make friends there but I didn’t, people did compliment me though and that was a very different experience for me but that was just an example, just other places I can go where there’s kids my age and have the same interest..? idk, I talk about it with my therapist and stuff but nobody knows what to tell me except for me to go to in person school.

I have gotten a little better since I was 10 and now I’m becoming an older teenager, I’m tired of not having friends, I want to socialize, I want friends 💔 I’m ready now 😔

I don’t know what advice anyone here can give me either but I love attack on titan, tshd and jjba ‼️😎

(Also I am in therapy, I have done TONS of therapy and I am on medication, I’m not here to try to get people to give me mental health advice 😭 I just wanna know how I can make friends, other nerd events or whatever)

Posted Aug 14, 2026, 5:46 AM UTC

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