Well....

In school people had this perception of me that was WAY off. I was always the quiet one. I wouldn't necessarily say "shy" but that's how people thought of me. And because I was so quiet, they thought I was a snob. When I found this out, I was shocked!!! I never looked down on anyone, ever.

I told another friend this... (he's very quiet, too) I told him that when you're a quiet person, people make all sorts of assumptions about you, many of which are untrue. He's a bit different than I am, grew up on the streets and has a bit of a rough edge b/c of it. But, get to know him and his intelligence will blow you away. People choose to judge him based on his looks and assume that he's uneducated and unintelligent.

And the thing is, once people have an ill conceived perception of you, its all the harder for them to want to open up to you and get to know you.

How do you make friends? I don't even remember anymore.... I'm recovering from PTSD and when I went fully symptomatic about 6 years ago, I lost everyone and stopped trying to meet new people. Online is a different story as I feel a bit more uninhibited and can share things with others more freely. I even joined a pen pal site and made a few good friends that way.

Have you tried meeting people online at all? I don't mean with the intention of meeting them in person, but sometimes online friends can help you learn how to open up more and I know that since I feel more comfortable with people in an online world, that carries over to my real life as well.