[Quiddie]

I spend the vast majority of my free time alone these days. Most of my friends have abandoned me, including my best friend of almost 20 years. I try to make new friends, but it's like I don't exist. No one wants to talk to me, people even actively avoid me, even when I talk to them first which is a feat in and of itself because I'm shy by nature. I'm 32 and never even been on a date. Guys aren't interested. I've tried all the dating sites I feel comfortable with (eharmony, match, okcupid, etc). I've joined clubs and meet-up groups. I've volunteered. Matter of fact, at one event I volunteered at regularly for 9 years with roughly the same people year after year no one remembers my name. I'm just someone they vaguely remember. Even my own family pretends I don't exist for the most part. They tolerate me on holidays because they don't have much choice but the only ones that even try to talk to me are my parents and they downright smother me. I've joked that I should change my name to Rapunzel because if they could have locked me away when I was little to keep me away from the world, they would have. Joke is on them, the world wants nothing to do with me anyway.

I'm tired of being on the outside looking in. I'm tired of trying to exist in a world that doesn't want me in it.

[jaynedough]

I'm sorry you're going through this. My life has been much like yours. A different spin on the "always the bridesmaid, never the bride" for me it was always, "Always the friend, never the girlfriend." Now I pretty much shun society, and society shuns me. As you can tell by my username, I want to blend into the woodwork.

Do you know why your family ignores you? Do you have a t or pdoc who could help you exp!ore what's going on?

I hope you find the answers and support you need.

[ArthurDent]

Have you ever read Jack London? Who are some of the authors you enjoy?

I'm 32 also. My life is the same way. I'm an only child and my father abandoned me and my mother rarely speaks to me. I don't have any friends and spend 95% of my time alone. It's very very hard. I try to make friends but it doesn't work out. I keep trying everyday but I am happiest in my own world and hope that by living my life and doing things I enjoy that I will finally make and keep a friend.

[ptangptang]

Yep the world can be a lonely place. Not really sure what to suggest. At least you can talk to people who feel the same on here and maybe irl, maybe even socialise with them and make friends with them. Ipso facto, in loco parentis and pro tem; ergo,.problem solved m'lud. NEXT!!!

[haydencolvin]

I would recommend you to read books to do away with loneliness. Good books really help a lot in fading out loneliness!