Question: lately I feel like everybody takes me as a joke and never seriously. My friends constantly make fun of me to the point where I don't wanna talk to them. If I ask my parents for help they either say suck it up or tell me something no where near relevant to what I need help with. If I ask anybody at my college to hang out they look at me like a weirdo even though we get along perfectly fine in class. I try to help other people out as much as I can to gain respect but I feel whatever pops out of my mouth nobody will listen, take seriously or just laugh at including teachers. It comes to the point where I hate people and don't feel like going out much. How can I get people to take me seriously?
Answer: People will take you seriously in direct proportion to your own confidence. When you feel a lack of confidence it is common to have that dream where you are in a fight with someone and you land punches but your hands are as light as feathers and they do nothing. It sounds like that is how you are feeling right now.
It sounds like you are suffering from anhedonia, a common symptom of depression where you cease to enjoy things that you once really enjoyed. Based on the amount of stress you seem to be suffering from it would not be surprising if you were feeling some clinical depression and you may benefit from medication and most certainly from more counseling. I would encourage you to make an appointment with a psychiatrist to get evaluated for medication and try to find a therapist you can relate to.
Your situation is disturbingly common right now. I was just talking with a friend this morning about how we feel for people your age, job prospects stink and the existential angst that people tend to feel in their early 20's and mid 40's is falling on the back drop of a world which does not seem to be offering a lot of hope right now. It will get better, but right now you need some support.
You have to remind yourself that you do have something to offer. I'm not into aura's and crystals and a lot of new age healing, but I do feel like people can sense confidence and desperation in others. When someone is sneezing and coughing all over themselves we move away from them because we have a natural instinct to avoid illness. When people are emotionally unhealthy and are feeling crappy others tend to avoid them as well so right when you need connection most it is the hardest to find and hold on to.
You have to start doing something that fills you up and makes you feel good about you. I would suggest volunteer work with disabled kids. No one can leave doing that without feeling great about their lives and the parents and kids really appreciate the time you put in.
If you ask a person in your class if they want to help volunteer at an event like this they just think you are altruistic and nice and even if they don't want to attend they don't think you are a creeper. You will meet people at these events and this may lead to other social outlets.
I would also try to get a job at a restaurant, even busing tables at a tgi fridays, is a good place to meet other young people. You work with them on Friday and Saturday nights and so even if you don't go out after you feel like you did something and there are a lot of people in their early to late 20's who work in restaurants. You just need to be careful to avoid the drug scene in a lot of restaurants.
The other thing is you have to develop a plan for your future that you really like. This is often the hardest thing to do when you are feeling down. It doesn't matter so much what the career is but imagine all the other parts of your life. Do you want to live in the city or the suburbs? In Chicago or in the mountains? Everytime you meet an adult imagine yourself trying on their life and steal pieces of each life that you like until you have a vision of what you want for your future from the kind of marriage and dog you will own, to the way you will organize your garage.
The first step to achieving success is defining it in concrete terms that you can work toward. It is always up to you to change your vision of success if you want to but having a destination in mind helps keep you motivated when life around you sucks.
