Rejection is strongly associated with loneliness in my mind. 

I'm talking about moments when it's natural sometimes to be alone: attending a conference, seeing a play, sitting on a park bench, going shopping. Of course, when you see a man shopping alone, you don't think that no one wanted to accompany him, but that...that's simply what he wanted. 

I'm so scared of the idea of rejection, that doing normal things alone throws me straight into a miserable and anxious state. 

I've missed a lot of opportunities that way, a lot of things I could have easily done on my own, but didn't want to just because I'd be on my own. I even miss going to a job interview, because it's a nightmare: I'm alone among strangers and there's also the possibility of being rejected. 

A handicap.