isolated and socially retarded for 5 years, but managed to control it somewhat via exposure. I am at the point where I no longer stutter and can make small requests/questions, but am still autistic (unavoidable), blunt and unable to have small talk.how reciprocating would normies be to me if I were to volunteer in a hospital or homeless/pet shelter? Do any robots have experience with this? not doing this for foids btw, just want to become normal.
I'm in the same boat as you and desperate for answers. Have a bump
Try Meals on Wheels if you can drive. They always need volunteers and it's more about socialization for the old people and making sure they are ok. You can make a real difference in your community. You can also look into food packing events. Churches do them a lot, you can help volunteer with people to put together care packages and casseroles Also, look into town cleanup initiatives, especially for parks and rivers. They ALWAYS need able bodied men and the women there are crunchy nice girl types. Highly recommend this
>>83506603Volunteering with animals is not social lol. And I'm not sure what volunteers do in a hospital but yeah maybe, do something with food or sports instead. All that yapping is irrelevant, if you spend 5-10 hours a day socializing then in 2-3 years you'll understand if you actually do have autism or just inexperience. At this point it's fundamentally impossible to judge yourself.
Also you can volunteer with autistic children or neurotypical children, there are all sorts of programs and they always need people. I briefly helped autistic kids learn photoshop and it was so fucking fun
>>83506642too much socializing from the start will overwhelm and will cause me to become avoidant or dip out - I've learned that from previous attempts. Maybe I'm just a pussy, but I think I just want a reason to go outside and small interactions will come naturally.
>>83506702That's why I considered it a top choice. But other options are not off the table. I just don't know what level I am at rn because I haven't had a real conversation for so long.
>>83506702>overwhelm Yes, and? That's the entire point. Humans literally and biologically do not learn or do anything until they are forced/overwhelmed to do it. You're putting extra words to it, but my entire life has been overwhelming and I still socialized and got married and had kids. Anything you do that isn't overwhelming or uncomfortable implies you are not trying to accomplish a goal or anticipate some kind of risk. There are drugs and alcohol to help cope and recover from the overthinking, but the "overwhelm" part is literally what you want to experience. It doesn't cause you to be lazy, that's a separate conversation.
yeah ive done a lot of volunteering work which I did for work experience within my field, ive worked a lot on various nature reserves with people and to be honest ive never made a friend that can be transferred to outside of that specific place, you meet people, you'll work together on a shared thing and you'll be like co workers but its hard to actually find people (in my experience) I fucked with enough to hang out with outside of that. I've also tried jiu jitsu and whilst dudes were chill, it just wasn't working. For becoming normal I can say yes? you'll learn how to be amongst normies but to build proper friendships Id have to say probably not, but you will build those skills. I've also tried going to gigs on my own and talking to people but these people already have their own friends so its just a very difficult task to build friends from nothing as a 25 year old unc.
>>83506603>how many of you have tried volunteering/social clubs to get out of isolation? any advice?I joined table top gaming community specifically for that. It was good for a time. Probably was a mistake to drop out but whatever, my entire life was a mistake.
>>83506784>>83506778this I have not tried, but idk if I can get into table top stuff. Is it easy to make actual friends there?
>>83506603I tried scouting in HS and it was good, but it ran its course and local chapter was closed because reasons. Plapped chubby leader of neighboring camp one summer so I think it was good
>>83506794>Is it easy to make actual friends there?Real friends no. I have only two real friends and that was since school.But i've made buddies to hang with. Had some little adventures and validation, like been invited to private MTG drafts, traveled to another towns, slept on other people couches. Big progress for a guy who before was a real hiki.It surely helped me to somewhat overcome fear and stress of been among not close people.
