I suck at making and keeping friends too. Given that I don’t have great skills in this area, I have kind of outsourced this to people who are good at this. Some ideas for getting more social contact (and practice for social skills):
- ADD support group
- Meetup dot com group that matches any of your interests
- Improv classes, which I think of as “supervised adult play date.” Being random and spontaneous is a valuable skill here! Plus someone else takes care of scheduling, getting other people to come, and coming up with fun games to play.
- Any (in-person) class that matches your interests
- Volunteer for a cause you consider worthwhile
- Join a club
- A counselor (who is a good fit for you) can be a tutor for social skills. Some people are ‘naturals’ but the rest of us have to learn how, and a good teacher can help.
- Meditation, to train your brain how to be calm
One important factor is the ‘vibe’ you give off. It really helps to give off “purring cat” instead of “snarling dog”. This is a habit, and building it may take work, but it’s possible to at least shift habits gradually.
Edit: work on learning to notice the positive and give compliments. If nothing else, notice that they tried. Swap places in your mind: do you like being with someone who notices and points out your mistakes, or your successes?
Good luck!