I'm still in school and I’ve got some solid friends at school, but there are a few people in my circle who gossip nonstop. As a Christian, I avoid that, and honestly despite faith it just wrecks relationships anyway, no one likes to be talked about behind their back. They talk about everyone, and other people have started pointing it out to me, so it’s not just in my head, though I don't think they take it as seriously as I believe they should. The problem is the talking people are super social and have a lot of influence. They’ll turn someone’s mistakes into conversation material just for fun without any regards of the persons reputation or feelings. And if I’m not on good terms with them, I end up being the one they talk about — which obviously isn't good. I get the whole “don’t care what people think,” but when they nitpick literally everything I do, it gets more complicated then that. So now I’m trying to figure out what to do. Do I stay friends with them? Do I distance myself? Do I cut them off? It’s tricky because my school is small, and no matter what, I'll still see them every day for a decent chunk of time.

hi i am really confused at this point of time as first of all i am young around 15-16 so idk if this is normal to happen or it is happening with only me . Also this is a rly long post so sorry for that but i just wrote what i felt for a brief - i have a lot of friends in school but around 1 or 2 years ago i felt that even though i have a lot of friends and popular i dont think i have a real very good friend and thought i was too giving or laughing so everyone takes me lightly or what. So worked and did a lot of overthinking on that for past year or so. I from the experience i had decided of using thing like dont talk too much or like dont laugh very much and something like this cause i feel after that people take u lightly or like for granted or i expect way too much from each person. So it gave good results more or less people which took me granted either i left them or they understood .But recently what happened was i liked a girl who earlier liked me but recently lost interest in me bcuz she thought i didnt liked her and gave up . so i asked her but she denied as she was not interested now so this was also very sad for me as i thought it was going fine. So again i am feeling sad for the past month or two so felling depressed get into the cycle of overthink and sadness and i am recovering from it but there is just so much confusion as sometimes i feel i have everything but some time i feel i am just another random person. People like me but i am not very close to them . Like i feel many times that even thought i have a lot of friends but i cant stay with them and for too long as i just feel everything is not going correct. It is not i am like sad everyday or dont have friends, not at all but i feel that many times i feel sad thinking everything is going wrong. So there are just some main worries that am i thinking way too much as i dont think anyone think so much about all this and feel like this. I know i am in a position better than many but i want to improve it and be very good as recently i got to know i was rly popular around 1 or 2 years ago but not so much now and with every thing happening it all come at me thinking i am not doing enough or not have enough. Also sometimes i feel i am like not so childish in some things which other are so it separates me a bit and dont have some common habits which everyone has as i consciously dont want to thrash talk much and be on insta and stuff as i want to focus on my sports and career and they are major distractions.

Hey everyone! My name's Siddhant,19, and have been on this self improvement journey for about 6 months. Everything seems to be going well except my social skills. I get anxious talking to people(especially around girls), and end up staying quiet even when I do want to talk. This has been really bugging me, and I have reached a point where I dont want to keep ignoring it. If anyone has gone through this or has any advice, I'd really appreciate your guidance. Thank you

So I met a girl in my school during an event called English Camp. Basically it's a one day tutoring camp for students, and I'm not from an English speaking country. Since I'm a senior and the leader of English Club in my school, I've got the role of a tutor for one group. And there was when I meet her. Long story short I've texted with her a few times over the last 2 weeks, took some pictures with her during yearbook picture days (two days actually, so I got twice back-to-back). The thing is that most people who are not the same year with me (teachers, my juniors, my seniors) think that I'm an extrovert and very social. The secret is that I'm introvert and have so much social anxiety (It's getting better but I still overthink too much). So I think they'd expect me to be more confident and upfront. So I want to know like how do I approach her in person? Like if she's around with her friends (who are also my friends apparently), should I just jump in their group and talk with them, or should I talk to her specifically? Another question is I mentioned about liking poetry, and have been thinking of writing one for her (and Tom mentioned that girls would love it so why not), should I give it to her, given it's only been like two weeks? (It's not something too much like 'I love you' kind of poem, more like 'I kinda admire you' kind). And wow that's a long first post xD Thanks in advance for reading this!