To want to just avoid people as much as I can until I die now

[OptimismvsRealism]

Sure there are still some great people out there but most are awful stressful thick rude shovey mean argggg

Friends can still come to me but no outside

Gordon Bennett what a miserable lot you are I'm outgoing and love having interaction with other people bikers at the events we go to, customers and fellow volunteers and staff at the charity shop i work at, my OH is the quiet type if I only saw him every day i would be climbing the walls with boredom the cats are not exactly good at conversation and i am old

I have literally had it with people and I hope I die sooner rather than later.

With you. I have 3 close friends I'm happy to see regularly and just want to walk my dog and avoid everyone else. Happy to have no more holidays and just live quietly and be left in peace. Driving feels practically feral at times and is my main stressor atm.

You have one life people! Don't waste it hiding away from everything and everyone.

It’s their life to live as they wish…surely.
We are not all the same.

I think as you age your circle shrinks smaller and tolerance for stress , bullshit and drama is limited . As you age you just was a quiet stress free life . I'm happy to avoid a lot of people to achieve it .

That doesn;t sound good, hope you're ok

I'm in my 60's and I would happily never see anyone ever again apart from my very close family and a couple of very good friends! I deeply dislike most people, face to face or online, these days; they're rude, disrespectful, hateful, angry, bigoted, and mostly self-entitled, not to mention sorely lacking in common sense and any semblance of intelligence. Why would anyone in their right might want to engage with the masses?

Because you are part of the masses? I love how everyone here is firmly convinced that other people are the problem, but never you!

I deeply dislike most people these days but I'm not at all miserable, thank you very much. I'm very happy with my life and the close family and friends that are in it. I'm known at the "fun" one because, despite living with a chronic, crippling illness, I'm very cheerful and love a laugh. But I don't like most other people because they're judgemental (your comment being a prime example), inconsiderate, self-centered, bigoted and generally unpleasant for the most part. That doesn't make me miserable, it means I'm discerning! Quality over quantity any time!

Nope! I hate people too. I work in retail; seriously why is everyone so entitled and wish rules to be bent for them over the silliest of things. My usual reply is well I could help you out and not be a jobsworth, however I would get the sack and I have bills to pay.
i am seriously considering moving to the Shetland isles. Apparently there are more sheep than people and I could happily live with that. Some dwellings have no electricity, no gas even no water supply? So be it. If it meant I didn’t have to ask a person do you need a carrier bag at least 6 times before they look up from their phones and acknowledge me ok!
Also has anyone noticed that people no longer want to drive on the left hand or right hand side of the road? That’s too easy, it’s right down the middle now…..

I’ve been having exactly this thought myself. I’m approaching 50 and keep thinking how nice it would be to find a job that involved minimal contact with people, and to stick at it for the rest of my life. It’s not that I hate people. I don’t. It’s just that people don’t make me happy. I don’t enjoy socialising, and usually feel worse, not better, after I have done so. I’m generally pretty good at it, funnily enough. I wasn’t when I was young, but as I’ve got older I’ve kind of mastered the art. I can make people laugh, and I know how to sustain a good conversation. I just can’t be bothered. Plus, I feel exhausted afterwards.

The main problem, I think, is that I’m an introvert. People exhaust me. I don’t crave or need much social interaction, and I’m always relieved when things are cancelled. Tbh, I don’t think I have ever looked forward to anything that involves other people. Another problem is the U.K. It’s so unbearably overcrowded that I’m sick to death of people by the end of the week. I also have zero tolerance for people I don’t like. Some people seem able to endure the company of almost anyone. They’ll just shrug and say “oh, sure, we all know X is arrogant and rude and self-centred…but hey, that’s just X.” I’m not like that. If I don’t like someone, I can’t bear being near them.

There are good people out there. And it would be great to meet, say, Stephen Fry for a coffee one morning, Unfortunately, they’re a minority. Most people are competitive, boring or self-centred. I have a lot of sympathy for people, and I feel very sorry for them, but I just can’t be bothered making conversation with them. In general, they make me feel shit about myself as well. The other weird thing I’ve noticed is that horrible, narcissistic people seem to worm their way into your life no matter how you resist. It’s bizarre. My sister said this to me last week. She said she went for a coffee with a couple of neighbours and sat there thinking “how did I end up here? I can’t stand either of you. You’re both nosy, gossipy, spiteful, jealous and boring. Yet somehow, yet again, you’ve managed to get me socialising with you. Whereas I never see the people I really like.”

If I had to list the things that truly make me happy, they would be

Books
Learning new things
Art
Creativity
Silence
Space
Natural light
Nature
Dogs

Sharing those things with people I genuinely like would be great. But I’d much rather be on my own than be with the vast majority of people I know. Most people just aren’t worth the effort.

They have been lucky, found a people niche that works for them, matches something they had ability to do + be appreciated for. There are reasonable odds of ever finding something like that at some time in your life, but not all the time. Far chancer odds of always finding it whenever you want it. Also, because volunteering places consist of real people, humans, by definition they can go wrong unexpectedly and for no good reason and end in fallings-out.

I love the first 4 of these, and have found people to share them with simply via book clubs, choir and volunteering.

Book clubs and volunteering for me too.

I also like space, natural light and nature, but those I do on my own or with DH.

I am not as fond of being a hermit as some on here, but I do think over the years you get tired of people who aren't your people. I wouldn't end up round at a neighbour's house socialising as I never socialise with neighbours as I like to be on 'friendly but not friends' terms, so when they invite me over I just make an excuse or don't go, but still chat when I see them. I get not wanting to make new friends past a certain point.

I do find people funny though and like having little moments with people over silly things. There are some wankers out there, and whoever said driving is stressful is right, but I have found even on the road, more people are friendly and thank you or let you out than not, it's just you remember the one nasty person. I once counted to check and had 10 times more positive encounters than negative ones, same in shops, everything.

I understand this.

I absolutely adore my child, husband and dog. Spending time with them makes me happy.

I have a couple of friends but out with that I'd be happy to never form relationships with any other person. I appreciate this isn't setting a good example for my child and so I'll happily fake being interested in others in public for their benefit.

We've been let down by too many people too many times. We're very comfortable financially (through decades of seriously bloody hard graft - not luck) and this also shows a very different side to people towards us.

Said every introvert ever

I want to say a big, loud, farty F*ck Off! to everyone except my honorary children and my fur babies and my wild babies. Just want to sit in a warm room with my kindle and the rain pelting against the window.

My dad is 91 and has no friends - and has never had friends. He lives on his own. He has no carers. He takes part in no community activities whatsoever. And he is perfectly content.

And I'm like him.

I tried much more than he ever did with other people, but I'm realising what I like, and it's not hanging out with other people.

@HiEarthlings where was I judgmental I'm sorry that you have health conditions which limit you, at the charity shop I work at there are ladies with health problems too and they are lovely, I'm 68 so got more years behind me than I have in front of me so I make the most of every day I'm alive, overall I don't find people horrid or rude a few yes but they are not anyone I am going to see again so they do not impact my life oh well off to see squeeze tomorrow night so I hope everyone has a good weekend

I honestly never use to feel this way but I do now. I struggle with the pressure of life and how I can't handle peoples bad behavior like I use to. I hate how rude and selfish people are I have less tolerance.lol

Yep. I’ve condensed my life so to not have to see the shitheap this country has become.

It must be a horrible feeling to be so aggravated by others whenever you leave the house.
Whatever your views on people, they are an unavoidable fact of life wherever you go.
I thought I would share some quotes I feel helpful when I feel overwhelmed by my interactions with people:

'it's easier to put on a pair of slippers than carpet the whole world'

'whenever you can't change a situation, it's time to change your perspective'

'everyone is doing the best they can with what they know'