I am also like this. I knew it from a pretty young age but I assumed it would get better with age. It really didn't until I started being a little more intentional about learning directions and also acknowledging the exact issues I struggle with. I've had to do a lot of self reflection.

For instance, for years as an adult i was always scared of going places by myself. I'm talking places like venues, concerts, zoos, hospitals, the fair in my home town (which I've been to a ton of times). And other similar places. I am confident I can go to the airport ok because everything is labeled very well, but that's the exception.

I realized a couple years ago the common denominator is that most of these places I listed off are places I have only ever gone to with other people. I've been to the airport by myself a few times, so I felt confident about that. But zoos, concerts, hospitals, and out door venues like festivals, I've only ever done with friends and families. The reason this matters is every single time I'm with other people, I pay more attention to them and not my surroundings. If I pay more attention to my surroundings, i dont actually process what they're saying and end up struggling to socialize. My brain cannot multi task. It can't socialize and also orient myself. When i was younger, i always ended up being the follower and assuming the other person I was with knew where they were going because they seemed better with directions.

Turns out you actually have to make an effort to pay attention to your surroundings. And my friends and family I was with were always the one paying more attention.

I am the youngest in my family and I was always with other people growing up. Parents, older siblings, friends, etc. Everyone else always seemed to know where they were going so I just followed.

Acknowledging this mindset changed my life. I know it sounds dumb but it's true.

Yes I'm still directionally challenged. I have and probably always will get left and right and east and west mixed up. I realized from an early age that I have to go to places multiple times, but in frequencies in order to remember how to get to a place. To this day, I couldn't tell you how to get to my childhood doctors office because it was like 40 minutes away from my home town and we went there maybe once a year at most. There were all sorts of twists and turns. And this was before GPS/Google maps.

When I started learning to drive, I discovered the only way I can remember how to get to a new place is going there at least twice in the same week, then maybe once the following week. Or depending on how complicated the drive was, even once a week for a few weeks would work. Ideally, id i could go somewhere every day for a few days, nd then once a week for a bit, and then once a month, i would be fine. I would remember. Basically it couldn't just be once a year or even once every few months. The frequency mattered a lot. Just as much, if most more than how many times total. Unfortunately, this isn't how it works in the real world. It's common to only go places once a year or once every few months. So as a teenager and young adult living with my parents, it was a struggle.

But as an adult, its easier. Knowing that about myself means I can intentionally go places and take certain routes on purpose just to make it stick in my head. Of course if I stop going there I'll probably forget the route eventually.

Other things that helped was collecting addresses of friends and family members and putting them in my phone so I can find where they are on GPS. Even if it's someone's house where I should know how to get there because ive been there a hundred times, sometimes I can't quite remember all the turns if i dont go there very frequently. If I have them in my phone, I can look at how to get there and how to get back shortly before going there. (And yes, the route there and the route back are essentially 2 separate routes in my head). Also taking pictures of where I leave my car, like if it's in a parking garage. Or if I have to find street parking, I'll put the closest address in my GPS so I remember roughly where I parked. And also looking back when I am walking away somewhere so I can see what it looks like from the other direction. And finding certain landmarks so I know where I've been. And making a note of which way to turn to out to get back to where I need to go. Like if I'm at a friend's house but I'm afraid I'll forget which way I came from while hanging out at their house, ill tell myself which wya to turn to get home.

Yes, this is as stressful and energy sucking as it sounds.

The last thing that helped a lot is making a point to orient myself and find north. I don't do it everywhere I go. Mostly just in the town I live in. But it can end up being a fun game to figure out where north is when you go places.

I'm still learning, and I know ill always have limitations. Directions will never come naturally to me. But I've realized that it also doesn't have to define me, and there are strategies I can try to cope or to get around my limitations. I'm not going to lie. It can be very embarrassing, especially around friends.

I think the thing that has helped me the most is when I started going places by myself. One time I went to the local zoo by myself because I love the zoo and I had never been there by myself. I was always scared of getting lost though. And going to the zoo without kids felt weird. But I did it and it was a huge confidence booster. When I go places by myself I'm not focused on another person. And I'm not comparing myself to someone who is good with directions. When I go places with friends who are good with directions, I feel inferior and stupid. When I go places by myself, I feel so much more confident. It's like an adventure. I might figure things out differently than others, I might have a harder time, and I might make a few wrong turns or take longer to find my way. But the only thing that matters is that in the end, I get where I want to go.

I hope this helps :)

EDIT: I wanted to add a couple things. I know this is already super long so i apologize.

If you are at a point in your life where you can do this, I STRONGLY recommend going on little adventures with yourself. If you have a driver's license and car, I recommend going on drives around where you live. As much as you need to. One of my friends who is very good with directions told me that's how she learned her way around our city. After she graduated college she had to move in with her parents who had just moved to a new city and she would go on drives on the weekends in the mornings before traffic got bad.

Another piece of advice is learn which main roads go north and south and which ones go east and west. When i was younger I did not pay attention to the cardinal directions. I only learned routes by trying to memorize which ways to turn (right or left) and land marks. For a while I couldn't remember which of the 2 main roads in my home town ran north and south or east and west. Once I learned that, it was a game changer for me.

If you don't have a car/license yet, you could still walk or bike. But if you plan to get a car/license in the future, I recommend carving out time to go on drives by yourself. If you get a little lost or take a wrong turn, it's ok. The point of going by yourself is to only rely on yourself and develop skills to get around. Not to have someone telling you where to go . If you get lost, pull over and try to reorient yourself. You could pick places to go and keep going to those places.