I have no friends or partner, I’ve been very lonely.
When I go out to try to meet people, no one ever comes up to me and starts talking to me. But if I want to meet someone I have to do exactly that. But like, why should I have to be the one to initiate 100% of the time? Shouldn’t it be 50/50? (And I’m not really talking about societal expectations of the man initiating with the woman, I’d rather have a boyfriend anyway.)
I have such a hard time initiating conversations with people, to the point where I mostly just stress out and sit there alone. If someone initiated with me things might go better. But they just don’t.
The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that literally no one has any interest in me.
It’s totally fine and normal for your work to be a social outlet. Also, a church or special interest group is a great place to go. I’ve also met some great people at local game shops playing DND and Magic. Join some special interest Slack or Discord channels that are location specific. A Chicago Java Script group or whatever and go to meetups. There are lots people that feel just as alone as you, you can be the one to reach out and help lift them up! Cheers and good luck!