Any more only child's here feeling like they missed out on socializing when you were young?

I was SO socially awkward all throughout my pre-college years. I had never gone to a school dance, real party, or even talked to any boys. I had zero friends in most of my classes and would sit silent during group projects.

I was an ugly child, I’ll admit. I had a phase with my eyebrows that went horribly wrong and got picked on for being half Asian and hairy. I was so self-conscious that I didn’t think anyone would want to talk to me so the only friends I made (I had a core group of 3) in high school were the ones that had approached me first. They all were fairly social, and sometimes when they invited me to hangout I’d intentionally say that my parents said no, so that I could stay home and play video games... mainly RPGs and League of Legends, lol.

I made a lot of friends online and spent most of my time talking to them on Skype. Near the end of my HS years, I went to a college on the opposite side of the country and that changed my life.

I became a new person. I didn’t want to be socially awkward and miss out on what might be the best years of my life. Nobody from my HS came to this particular university, so I was all alone. I went out of my comfort zone and made friends with a lot of my floormates, who exposed me to parties and nightlife and helped improve my social skills exponentially. I became so damn confident and honestly, if I hadn’t gone to college so far away I’d probably still be that meek, awkward girl I was growing up.

It’s now my junior year and I have an irrational fear of getting older and missing out on everything. I go out of my way to make social events and in a way it motivates me to get my work done, but I sometimes become seriously upset when I know I’m missing out on something. I have such a rash need to make up for all my lost time in HS.

/r/socialskills Thread