Hi 👋 

I moved to London from a Northern Uni a year before covid and I've struggled to cultivate the social life I'd have liked.

I had really only two old friends in the city when I joined and I'm single. I've met lots of new people since coming here, but struggled develop any lasting friendships. I have tried the clubs/volunteering thing. I am introverted so it does normally take a while to make friends.

I live with my sister and I am aware that many people are in a much more lonely situation than I, but most of my friends have loads of people they know here. I feel ashamed and anxious of how static my social life is and it keeps me up at night. When my friends and housemates are often turning down plans at weekends I seem to be hoping for things to materialise. I'm worried that if I reach out too much I'll come across as needy and I'm ashamed of being in the house on Friday and Saturday nights when my housemates are out having fun...

Does anyone else suffer from this?

The reason I post here and not r/socialskills is because I feel genuine anxiety, not just loneliness regarding this. I also feel my response is way out of proportion to the problem.