I was exactly like this for a while when I was younger (feeling like no-one really knows me). The thing that helped me most was learning empathy (I was pretty terrible at this to start with). This involved mainly actively working on putting myself in other people’s shoes: listen to their problems and try to imagine what it feels like, and what they might do to make it better, but making suggestions in as tactful a way as possible. It got me a lot closer to my friends and made me care more about people in general, and moved me towards being able to open up about my own problems. (It has the added benefit of making you really good at understanding and solving other people’s problems, which in turn makes you popular. I don’t think wanting approval and popularity is a problem!)
Don’t overdo it though, because being overemotional about everything isn’t that fun either (I went through a phase of that for a couple of years as well).
Unless it’s a symptom of a deeper psychological problem, which is a small possibility, I do believe that this is the kind of thing that just more emotional and general maturity will solve—specifically, learning to sympathise and empathise and trust a friend deeply. Making an active effort will speed it up though!
I was exactly like this for a while when I was younger (feeling like no-one really knows me). The thing that helped me most was learning empathy (I was pretty terrible at this to start with). This involved mainly actively working on putting myself in other people’s shoes: listen to their problems and try to imagine what it feels like, and what they might do to make it better, but making suggestions in as tactful a way as possible. It got me a lot closer to my friends and made me care more about people in general, and moved me towards being able to open up about my own problems. (It has the added benefit of making you really good at understanding and solving other people’s problems, which in turn makes you popular. I don’t think wanting approval and popularity is a problem!)
Don’t overdo it though, because being overemotional about everything isn’t that fun either (I went through a phase of that for a couple of years as well).
Unless it’s a symptom of a deeper psychological problem, which is a small possibility, I do believe that this is the kind of thing that just more emotional and general maturity will solve—specifically, learning to sympathise and empathise and trust a friend deeply. Making an active effort will speed it up though!