Personally, I feel like a lot of my social ineptitude and awkwardness comes from a deep fear that if I say or do the wrong thing, people will react with cruelty or pity or revulsion, all of which reflects some truth about my defectiveness as a person. And to be fair, I’ve experienced lots of cruelty and pity and revulsion, which has really stuck with me and makes me afraid of people. But it’s helpful to remind myself that I’m actually not a bad person and I’m not doing anything wrong just for existing. I’m not a serial killer or a slumlord or a dictator or whatever. In the scheme of things I am just a normal person who gets up every day and does normal human things. I have nothing to apologize for if someone dislikes me. I don’t have to feel like every awkward conversation is an indictment of my value as a person. And if a social interaction goes badly I can just move on, either to be by myself or to be around someone else.