Sometimes people will feel like one of the issues preventing them from finding some friends is that they do not fully fit into any one social group. Instead, they fall into an in-between zone where they are not that great of a match for anyone and they slip through the cracks. Some examples of this thinking are:
- I like sports and going out but I am hardly a complete jock, bro, frat boy type. I have never gotten along with people like that. On the other hand, I like role-playing video games and fantasy novels, but I cannot relate at all to the hardcore crowd that is super into that stuff.
- I feel like I am too awkward and non-mainstream to hang out with regular kids but I am too socially adjusted and normal for the true misfit kids.
- I am pretty into music and concerts but not enough for those total hipsters who play in their own bands and spend every weekend hunting for obscure vinyl records. And I am a bit of a left-leaning, artsy person but I have hung around true granola crunching hippies and I do not have anything in common with them.
When people have this problem they may have a sense that they do not have enough interest in the things that are the 'cornerstone' of fitting into a particular social group. Like someone may like sports just fine but not to the degree necessary to fit into a guy's guy crowd, the kind where everyone is constantly dissecting last night's game or wanting to go golfing. Or they may care about political issues, but their lives do not revolve around it, and they are not at home hanging around activist types. People can feel like they are being punished for being well rounded and not totally throwing themselves into any one pursuit.
Source: Succeed Socially
