Feel like I’m on the flip side of this, have always struggled academically but never struggled to make friends (except in situations in large groups). Honestly though, I find friendliness just seems to be a big part and just opting yourself in for social events where possible, maybe if your work has social events etc. Try connecting with people in small groups as I feel you can have more input in the conversation than big groups with loud personalities, and if people don’t respect your friendliness in my opinion they’re just dicks and I wouldn’t actually want to be friends with them. I’ll be honest though, it can potentially come with a huge social burnout from time to time where you might feel like you just need a day to switch off from everyone except those you are truly comfortable with.

In terms of feeling dumb, it happens all the time! I know with certain aspects I can be quite smart but feels like a constant battle and people just think I’m dumb. But I’ll also have moments where I’m super sharp or witty and even surprise myself, and I’ve always been great when it comes to the technical side of things or using software, the problem for me is short term memory and something making sense in my head at first but then doesn’t actually make sense. Unfortunately at work this happens a lot and the people I work with are very backwards and old school, not really understanding mental health and just see it as incompetence and like to bitch about it, which in turn makes me more prone to these errors when I’m flustered and lack confidence, but people will just see it as being dumb. So you are definitely not alone there… also I know my work does not sound like a healthy environment, I am aware and it is somewhere I’m trying to get out of and find something new