This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff

Lifehax for feelin' bad & wanting company but not wanting to inflict yourself on people: Sitting at a cafe is rly nice, you get a food and you're usually surrounded by people talking but don't need to actually interact any further than placing your order. Its got me through some Times

Oh man, that SUPER doesn't work for me. Restaurants, cafes, movie theaters, any place where there are lots of people doing a similar thing (usually in groups) are really stressful places for me to be alone in. I feel watched and out of place the whole time. I love people watching and being in those places as long as there's at least one other person there with me, but doing it alone compounds all the lame parts of being alone with all the lame parts of being social. My best irl friend loves to do stuff like you described, for much the same reason, but I personally hate it.

For me it really comes down to making a conscious decision to engage with people when I don't necessarily have to; recognizing my own social needs and acting on the urges they engender instead of dismissing them or being afraid of seeming weird or annoying. It doesn't take a lot for me: a nice chat with the dude who pumps my gas, a joke about the way people treat service workers while standing in line, bullshitting with a coworker about what they did on the weekend. It has to be direct contact, though, not social osmosis. Very easy needs to ignore or not fulfill, but important.

The older I get, the more I see people like big fleshy bees, tbh