Well I'd say a friendship and a romantic relationship are mutually exclusive. Some people are looking one and not so much the other. However, I've felt and feel that way too regardless. All I can't think of is keep meeting new people, play the numbers game. If your looking for 1 in a million, don't call it quits after 1000...

As always, feel free to friend me...,
imlostinlife

hey there Nienna92. first of all hugs. (((((( Nienna92 ))))))
what stuck out to me in your post was...."and I can never get close enough to anyone to become friends (or they can't get close enough to me.) Always acquaintances but never more than that."
I know it's scary. rejection is scary as fuck. I'm not suggesting that it is not. however if u never let down ur guard and don't let people in then u will not be able to have true friends.
I mean fuck (I hope u r not offended by my general cussing) if so lemme know. I can curb it if nec. Donald trump has friends y not u. we all have to find our tribe. but u gotta be willing to be unapologetically u and those who will love u will be drawn to u and vice versa.

have hope love.
I know its hard but have hope. u never know what new experience is around the corner or what new person is around then corner. and don't get discouraged if it doesn't happen right away. there are still other experiences that u can enjoy on ur own in the meantime. for instance I decided I missed roller skating. I hoped that I might meet someone cool while at the rink as well.
I did go roller skating regularly and I met no one. I never really chatted with anyone and made no connections. oh well. I did have fun skating. it gave me some time out of the house. and the exercise helped stabilized my weight 4 a bit. :)
so even though what I hoped would happen did not other wonderful things did. and I have since felt far more comfortable to go out alone go on trips alone and have met cool people in my travels. keep hope because each day u take another breath is a day that could be dif than the last.

Being alone and feeling inadequate is not a good feeling, but sometimes it is also a matter of time and right circumstances. Most importantly it not just you being good for the person you love but also he has have the same feeling for you. One sided love or looking for love never really works out for anybody positively.

However, you still have to keep looking put your self out there to find and be found in this world...Hugs :)

my mother always told me that we each have an exact opposite out there-our true mate-someone that can finish your sentence for example-so matter what you have to keep going and you never know the strangest place you will meet your exact opposite

I have longed for that special feeling. A question I posed to myself tho, is....who do I make feel special? I thought that maybe that was the problem. What I want others to feel of me, I haven't felt for others. Maybe I need more practice with it myself and it'll be more easily returned. Gentle hugs.

I used to feel this way also. The only friends I ever made were through school and work and they were few and far inbetween, but they were more acquaintances than friends and our interaction ended at the door. I even found it hard to make friends online which was another blow to my self esteem. In truth I can say I only ever really had two real friends my whole life and both were found online and ended under different circumstances but if we met again today or years later, the flame of friendship would still be there. By real friend, I mean were a person is your friend for friendships sake alone and there is a mutual interest in each others lives and personalities with little to no possible ulterior motive or gain. The funny thing is, they were almost nothing like me.

Depending on the angle, I can count myself an unlucky sad and pathetic sod, or a rather fortunate individual to have experienced true unconditional friendship on a deep level. It always comes down to perspective. They say that allot cos its true.

I used to feel very sorry for myself before. I felt that I was a good person with good intentions. That I had allot of interests and passions and an intact faculty of compassion and empathy. I couldn't understand why I couldn't find someone like me who I could relate with. Was I really that strange? Was I really that boring? Was I really that unpleasant and ugly? Maybe I was just too pathetic of a person and people could not get down to my level to connect. It made me feel really small and made others seem like giants that I could only admire from a distance. Hell even dogs have really good human friendships. Was I less than a dog?

Somehow, somewhere along the line, my perspective took a polar shift. I don't really know why. I may have it all wrong, but from where I am now I don't feel sorry for myself at all but rather humanity in general. In spite of outer appearances, I can't help but see the friendships that other people have as very superficial. I can't help but notice the lengths and expenses that people will go to to be socially acceptable, even altering their personal beliefs and the very core of who they are. I can't help but notice how the friendships and love relationships that people have are not at all unconditional but mutually beneficial. It really doesn't take allot at all and a family is destroyed, or a friendship expired, with parties soon after moving onto other prospects. It seems almost business like. Even long standing friends that a person grew up with may at some point be cast aside in the interest of a new relationship. I really don't envy anymore the relationships that I see other people having. While I don't at all count them as meaningless or beneath me, I understand now that my life has taken a different path which does not involve friends or lovers and in some ways that is unfortunate but in other ways I'm lucky.

I don't feel lonely anymore. I hope you don't take this the wrong way but personally I now think that the feeling of loneliness is in some way based on a delusion. We long for something that we imagine to be there but its really not. And if it is its quite rare. When you see it like that the loneliness goes away which means: Even if I'm totally wrong and people do have very deep and meaningful relationships, at the very least this shows me that the loneliness itself, the feeling, only exists because we seek and idea in our minds. If you can drop the idea somehow, perhaps by taking on a view point such as mine, it vanishes. Whether or not my viewpoint is true or not is debatable. I hope that makes sense or was useful in some way. If not, I hope you find what you're looking for. You're more powerful than you think and more than capable of realizing your dreams and desires. At least know that to start with.

I feel this way a lot as well. And its something that is so painful to carry. And so confusing as well.. There is nothing wrong with you, and you will not feel this way forever. It may be hard and feel completely impossible. But keep pushing along. Something I have been working on is learning how to love myself. I have been trying to become my own best friend. Love yourself unconditionally. And maybe things will start falling into place... If you need anyone to talk to message me