I can so relate to this thread. Not everyone is raised to be happy, cheerful, outgoing by nature. People come from different families and different personalities, just like candies come in different flavors. Extraversion and cheeriness comes a lot easier to some people than for others.
Being harassed and bullies so many times in the past, both at home, school, public, etc, I naturally developed a very defensive attitude. I am not outgoing, friendly, or cheerful by nature. Sometimes people misunderstood me and think I'm a b*tch. But like someone mentioned, there's a fragile core within me that I'm trying to protect.
Yep I got the same problem. I used to be an asshole. I avoid people, not say hi, ignore them and avoid eye contact even in 2nd grade. I used to think that all that stuff like greetings, small talk, etc seems so fake...
Now I'm learning to look at things more rationally. And I'm making an effort to fake friendliness and confidence.. I hope one day I'll do those things because I genuinely want to be nice and friendly, as opposed to faking it
Yeah, I need to make an effort to fake things. Even though the whole greeting thing seems fake, it's necessary to play by the rules of societal etiquette. I wish I had at least a tad bit of acting skills.