How to work on my social skills and personality?

Hi! Well the only way to improve your social skills is to be social I am afraid. That can be hard, but maybe you could start it of with your current friends? When you say you do not have any meaningful friends what do you mean by it? You mean they are not really interested in you as a person or that you do not want to be friends with them? Also why do they always laugh at you?

 

Find older family members who are more social and try to model your personality after them.

 

Take baby steps. Next time you go to buy some fast food, ask the cashier how he/she is doing. You do not need to solve the social problem [that you have] in one shot -- it will take time. Be patient with yourself and just make little conversations. That will increase your confidence, thereby giving you better social skills.

 

Don't you just wish it were as simple as reading a book and poof? But I guess it is more about practice than theory.

 

It's hard to step out of you comfort zone, but that is something you need to do eventually. Not all at once, but by taking little steps. I don't know what is your situation in life, but start by something little like maybe do some smalltalk when at work, school or maybe just at the grocery store. It can be something simple as "how are you doing" or "it is a nice weather today" etc. At somepoint you will notice that you can manage small talk with others which is good! Do not expect getting better in a day or a week, but slowly interaction after interaction you will get there!

I can relate with the "I do not have any stories to share" part. This is something I used feel and at some point I tried to forcefully tell other people's stories or over exaggerate my own... Do not do that! People can see through your lies and what is the point of telling other people's stories? Just live life and as long as you are doing something like have a hobby, go to work, being at school or even read the news and know even partially whats going on in the world or in your country etc. In these kind of situations you start slowly to get your own experiences and stories that you can tell. Also the "feeling stupid" could partially be because of you are insecure about yourself and that is something you also need to fix, but that will go away at somepoint as long as you practice your social skills. Also you learn from your own mistakes so do not be afraid of embarrassing yourself if you do feel like you lack the knowledge. The people that do learn from their mistakes are the wisest IMO. Just do not act like an idiot.