Just as the title suggests, everything in my life should be fine. The keyword being 'should'. It's my third year of college (I should graduate within the next 2~3 years), I have a job that I go to on weekends, and there shouldn't be anything for me to really be worried about. Despite all of this, I feel empty. What really got me feeling this way was the fact that, aside from school and work, I'm pretty much a shut-in.

I don't like being the way I am, constantly at home watching TV or playing video games or reading. It's gotten very tiring and I've begun to want more out of life. I long for connections and relationships with other people. I want friends who will be genuinely happy to see me and to have conversations with me. I don't want to be alone anymore while everyone else that I know is surrounded by people and living fulfilled lives.

My problem is my communication skills. It's been so long since I've really put myself out there to try to meet new people that I don't even know where to start. I don't know how to mingle with groups or strike up interesting conversations, and I have no self-confidence.

My question to you all is, how do I make friends? What am I supposed to do?

I couldn't give you advice on how to make friends, because I'm really bad at that, but I can give you advice on the communication skills thing. =D

So when I finally did make a friend last year it was really weird, because I was afraid she wouldn't like me and my best friend because we're very awkward people and we usually keep to ourselves. It's rare to see us talking to anyone else, so people just leave us alone. We got really tired of that, though, because we needed something more in our group of two. We finally got the nerve to ask the girl and she hung out with us that day at lunch. We didn't talk at all except maybe a few sentences and I surely thought she would not want to hang out with us again, because of how awkward it was. My best friend and I thought it was basically hopeless.

Sorry I'm sort of going off on a tangent. So what does that have to do with communication? Well, it might be weird the first day you make said friend, but that's okay. If they really like you, they'll come back again. Back to my story though, I started asking her questions about herself and eventually she opened up and we are really good friends now and I really feel she is someone who will be my friend forever even though I've known her for only eight months now. Essentially, if you are going to try to make friends, you should try asking questions about themselves and ask questions about their answers to show you're really interested. If you find something the two of you have in common, then try to make a conversation out of that.

Pertaining to you having no self-confidence, that's probably due to your first two paragraphs. I used to have zero self-confidence/self-esteem. As I grew older though, I kind of forgot that others have opinions and that's what made me gain it again.

You need to gain your self-confidence before making your friends though, because people are aware of that and they'll use you. The only way to gain self-confidence imo is by first liking yourself. It doesn't really matter what anyone thinks (to a certain extent of course), but once you like yourself, making friends isn't hard. I'm guessing you'd be really sad if someone stopped being your friend, because you want to create connections/relationships, but the whole thing about gaining self-confidence basically allows you not to feel too bad about losing someone as a friend. Friends aren't usually forever, but when they are it's a beautiful thing, so I hope your pursuit in friendship is a successful one. Hope this helped and good luck.

On the note of communication, like Luv said, it has a lot to do with the fear of rejection. If joining a conversation in the first place is the issue, you most likely don't have communication problems but rather problems of rejection. Everyone has a touch of it.

The earlier you understand that people will judge and dislike you whether you open up your mouth or not, the better. It doesn't matter what impression you give. Whether or not someone will like you early on depends on their own preferences and state of conscious. Even if you fumble over your words or accidentally say something weird, it won't change anything unless that person wouldn't have liked you in the first place; that fumbling is just a part of your personality, not a defect.

Anyway, I've found that the best way of getting past that first jump is to play it safe. Look for people who are into the same things you are. Is a classmate reading a manga? Do you also like manga? Then ask them about it. You should also put yourself in a situation where others can do the same. Show your interests. Do you like to draw? Write? Compose? Read? Then do it in public. Others who like those things will naturally feel more comfortable starting a conversation with you.