Feeling Left Out By Your Friends? 9 Tips to Overcome It

Everyone has felt socially excluded at some point in their life. It can be lonely and painful. There is a reason for this: Being left out can trigger a primal neurological fear of rejection.

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When you’re feeling left out by friends, it’s easy to tát get in your head about why they haven’t included you. You may even cascade into an emotional drama of distress, insecurity, and self-doubt.

Luckily, there are a few ways to tát stay grounded and soothe the pain of being excluded from the group. Here’s how to tát giảm giá with being left out by friends.

Why Wanting to tát Be Included is Normal

Humans have an evolutionary need for belonging. Since the earliest Homo sapiens, people have lived as herd animals, reliant on their tribes to tát protect them from danger.

Contrary to tát the rugged individualistic assertion that “other people’s opinions don’t matter” or “it’s bu against the world,” it is completely normal to tát want to tát be in a group.

Of course, it’s not healthy to tát morph yourself or pretend to tát be someone you’re not just for fitting in. But trying to tát convince yourself that you can get by without social acceptance can sometimes bởi more harm than thở good.

The “Need to tát Belong” theory asserts that humans absolutely need a social connection to tát survive. Although many avoidantly attached people may claim to tát be fine without intimate relationships, friendships are scientifically proven to tát benefit your life in profound ways:

Quality friends improve your health.
Friendships are the number one indicator of joy and happiness.
Social connections links to tát longevity.
Sociability reduces your risk of sickness.
Friendship strengthens your self-esteem.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to tát be included.

Action Tip: Take the Attachment Style Quiz to tát uncover how childhood experiences might have shaped your approach to tát interpersonal relationships as an adult.

9 Signs You’re Being Left Out

Are you being excluded from your friend groups? Not everyone is straightforward about whether or not they want you around.

If you notice these subtle signals from your friends, they may be leaving you out:

They leave quickly without telling you where they are going
They cancel plans with you last minute
They don’t invite you to tát their parties or events
They ignore your text messages or don’t return your calls
They say they’re busy, then post photos on social truyền thông or lỗ out with other people
They avoid discussing a certain sự kiện or topic with you
They tell white lies about what they were up to tát the past weekend
They provide vague answers lượt thích “I’m busy” or “oh, nothing much.”
They have the same excuse every time you want to tát lỗ out

What to tát Do When You Feel Left Out

When you feel lượt thích you’re on the outside looking in, sometimes your mind can go to tát dark places. Social exclusion hurts, but there are a few things you can bởi to tát manage your emotions and soften the sting.

#1 Avoid catastrophizing

The psychological phenomenon of catastrophizing explains why people often fabricate situations in their heads that exaggerate the negative parts of a painful experience lượt thích rejection.

Though you may be trying to tát make sense of your emotions, anxiety and worrisome thoughts can actually lead to tát more emotional distress.

When you feel left out, it’s important not to tát think yourself into a đen ngòm hole of “what ifs” and “whys.” The truth is that you never know what is actually happening in people’s lives.

First, consider that your friends may not be purposefully rejecting you. For example, if your colleagues ended up grabbing a drink after work without you, maybe the decision was spontaneous as they were walking out of the office. They may not have intentionally made plans ahead of time that excluded you.

In other instances, a certain group of people may have forgone inviting you simply because they knew you wouldn’t be interested in the discussion topics or the location they were meeting up:

If you’re a vegan and your friends are going to tát a steakhouse, they likely didn’t want to tát make you feel uncomfortable by bringing you along.
If a couple of friends are meeting up to tát have a playdate with their kids or dogs, maybe they didn’t invite you because you don’t have any kids or dogs.
If you know that your friends went out for coffee and yoga on Saturday without inviting you, they may have planned it ahead of time, thinking you were busy or uninterested in yoga.

It’s easy to tát spiral into thinking “they don’t lượt thích bu,” “I’m not good enough,” or “they think I’m a weirdo,” but these catastrophic thoughts can be very unproductive for your emotional state.

Reading too far into a situation doesn’t bởi anyone any good. Avoid making assumptions about your friends’ motives.

They didn’t necessarily leave you out because they don’t lượt thích you; maybe the situation just arose spontaneously, or they thought you wouldn’t enjoy it anyway.

Studies show that heavy social truyền thông use is associated with loneliness. In a world bombarded by the “highlight reel” of other people’s lives, social truyền thông can often make you feel lượt thích you’re being left out from all the fun others are having.

Looking at photos of your friends enjoying themselves can elicit feelings of jealousy, rejection, and FOMO.

If you can discipline yourself to tát delete a few apps or turn off your phone for a while, you may find that being present in your current reality can bring you more fulfillment than thở scrolling through other people’s lives.

Action Tip: When you’re feeling left out of social gatherings, avoid looking at social truyền thông for a few days to tát a week. Delete Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and any other apps you regularly use (don’t worry, your tài khoản will still be there when you want to tát log back in). Instead of checking social truyền thông, try to tát meet people in your đô thị or learn to tát be more creative.

#3 Distract yourself with new interests

Distracting yourself can be one of the simplest ways to tát giảm giá with feeling left out.

Instead of ruminating about what you did wrong or if your friends still lượt thích you, you can reframe the experience into something positive. What if being excluded was a blessing in disguise? If you repeatedly lỗ out with the same people and bởi the same things, you may not be getting out of your comfort zone as often as you’d lượt thích.

An open night or weekend gives you time to tát de-stress, relax, and try out new interests that you wouldn’t otherwise explore:

Revisit a childhood passion
Get lost in someone else’s life for a little while with a fascinating novel or movie
Attend a class to tát learn something new
Treat yourself to tát a self-care day
Take a road trip to tát a nearby city
Try out one of these 40 Unique Things to tát Do When You’re Bored

The world is a big place full of new people to tát meet and rich experiences. Get out there and try something new to tát remedy the FOMO (fear of missing out) blues. You’ll have something new to tát talk about and maybe even make new friends.

Action Tip: Research shows that social rejection can actually fuel creativity. Try channeling your negative emotions into a creative project such as journaling, drawing, writing, carpentry, or music.

#4 Feel your emotions, don’t suppress them

Studies show that suppressing emotions can lead to tát more negative mental health outcomes than thở facing them head-on.

It’s no surprise that being excluded from social situations can lead to tát feelings of rejection as psychologically difficult as physical pain. Frankly, it sucks.

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If your cousin doesn’t include you in her wedding các buổi tiệc nhỏ or your friends host a get-together without you, it’s OK to tát be upset about it.

Instead of suppressing your emotions, try taking time to tát process and unpack what you’re feeling:

Journal about your thoughts: What hurts most about this situation? Does it remind you of an experience of rejection?
Practice deep breathing or a guided meditation: Grounding yourself in your breath can help bring the focus away from the external world back into your inner self. Try this 10-minute meditation for dealing with rejection.
Take a walk: Notice the small details lượt thích shapes of clouds, bird songs, or flowers that are currently blooming.
Listen to tát music: Music is scientifically proven to tát reduce stress and improve your mood.
Try exercise or yoga: Getting your sweat on can help you channel your emotion into a physical challenge.
Talk to tát another trusted friend or family member: Ask someone close to tát you for a few minutes of their time to tát allow you to tát vent and talk through why you feel left out. Be sure to tát clearly express if you want advice, a pep talk, or just a metaphorical “shoulder to tát cry on.”
Create an emotion map: An emotion map helps you build a vocabulary to tát describe your emotions and responses.

Emotion Map Exercise: The Dalai Lama and Dr. Paul Ekman worked together to tát create an online tool called the Atlas of Emotions to tát illuminate your emotional experience and help you navigate through different feelings.

#5 Take yourself out on a date

Spending time alone is correlated with greater confidence, more creativity, higher emotional intelligence, and greater emotional stability in challenging situations.

If you feel left out, it might help to tát turn inward and focus on your self-love, reflection, and fun experiences you can have on your own. A really fun way to tát bởi this is by taking yourself on a date:

Get dressed up in your favorite outfit
Choose one of your favorite restaurants or try a new cuisine
Bring along a good book, podcast, journal, or sketchbook if you want to tát bởi something creative while you eat
Celebrate a few things you love about yourself while you enjoy the delicious meal
People-watch or strike up conversations with the wait staff

This đoạn Clip explains a simple three-step solution to tát overcome your fear of being alone:

Action Tip: A fear of being alone can be a common cause of clingy or attached behaviors. If you think you might be acting a little clingy with your friends, read our article on How to tát Not Be Clingy: 9 Ways to tát End Neediness in Relationships

#6 Check that you clearly expressed your availability

Often getting left out can result from simple miscommunications:

Maybe your friends thought you were too busy with your job to tát go shopping on a weekday.
Perhaps you accidentally texted them the wrong date or time for an sự kiện, and they planned something else without you.
Maybe you just forgot to tát confirm a clear “yes” or “no” to tát an invite.

Action Tip: To avoid being left out, make sure you are clearly communicating when you have không lấy phí time to tát lỗ out. Better yet, create your plans and invite them. Send your friends a quick text on a group chat about an open window of time that you’d lượt thích to tát make plans for.

#7 Openly communicate how you feel

Honest and clear communication is the key to tát any successful relationship. While it may feel awkward, sometimes the best way to tát giảm giá with being left out is to tát express how you feel openly.

Psychologist and researcher Brene Brown asserts that vulnerability is essential to tát deepening relationships, sánh don’t be afraid to tát open up a bit of your true emotions.

“Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to tát take if we want to tát experience connection.” – Brené Brown

When communicating that you’ve been feeling excluded, it’s best to tát avoid sounding accusatory or attacking:

“You should have invited bu.”
“I thought you cared about bu, but you keep leaving bu out.”
“You keep ignoring bu.”
“I invite you to tát places all the time, but you never invite bu.”

Instead, focus on “I” statements that express your experience without projecting your insecurities onto the other person:

“Honestly, I felt a little left out when you and the girls went out to tát dinner last weekend without bu.”
“I’ve been feeling a bit more distant in our friendship lately. Just wanted to tát kiểm tra in to tát see if you’re doing OK.”
“I miss hanging out with you. Do you want to tát meet up soon?”
“Sometimes I feel excluded from the family when you bởi things without bu.”
“I noticed that we aren’t hanging out as much anymore. Have I done anything to tát upset or annoy you?”

Action Tip: Sometimes, people may exclude you from situations because they feel annoyed by you or awkward in your presence. It may help to tát bởi some self-reflection and work on your social skills sánh that you don’t come across as annoying. This article might help: This is Why People Find You Annoying (& How to tát Fix It!)

#8 Invite people to tát bởi things with you

If no one invited you to tát the các buổi tiệc nhỏ, have your own! Instead of waiting on others to tát invite you to tát social events, create your own sense of belonging by making plans and inviting them.

The most popular people are known for acting as the “social glue” of their friend circles. They bring people together by…

Hosting events
Initiating plans
Introducing their friends to tát each other
Inviting people to tát lỗ out

Next thing you know, people might be asking you if they can tag along with your plans.

Pro Tip: Magnetizing a circle of friends comes down to tát improving your people skills and becoming more likable. If you want to tát be more popular, try these 16 Science-Backed Tips to tát Attract Friends.

#9 Meet new friends

Friends who regularly leave you out of their plans may not be the best friends to tát have. If you start to notice signs that your friends are toxic or you have a lot of nhái friendships, try redirecting your energy into more fulfilling new relationships.

Making new friends may seem intimidating at first, but there are actually more ways to tát meet people than thở ever before:

Regularly go out to tát local cafes, restaurants, bars, or concerts
Minimize using your phone in public sánh you can have more conversations
Try a friendship phầm mềm to tát connect with likeminded people online
Learn some killer conversation starters to tát initiate interesting connections
Join a class or group to tát learn a new skill
Use one of these 50 Ways to tát Meet New People in ANY City

#10 Check for Burnout

Sometimes if we feel alone, we can also feel burnt out at work. Here are some symptoms:

tiredness that is impairing
mental withdrawal and psychological detachment
reduced capacity to tát regulate cognitive processes
reduced ability to tát regulate emotions

Sound familiar? No worries—here’s how to tát defeat burnout (completely free!):

Get Unstuck And Beat Burnout

Do you need to tát recharge? Are you burnt out? It’s not your fault!

Learn the science behind your burnout and use my framework for getting unstuck, increasing your energy, and preventing burnout from happening again.

Feeling Left Out By Your Friends? 4 Tips to tát Overcome It

Key Takeaways: How to tát Deal With Being Left Out

Being left out can trigger the most vulnerable and painful insecurities from childhood. But sometimes, your emotional reaction to tát social rejection can make things harder than thở they need to tát be.

To giảm giá with being left out of a social situation, try practicing healthy ways of coping and moving forward:

Avoid catastrophizing and excessively worrying or wondering why your friends left you out. Instead, give your friends the benefit of the doubt and
Take a break from social truyền thông to tát avoid feeling FOMO when looking at photos of your friends. Temporarily delete your primary social apps and use these tips for a 10-day digital detox.
Distract yourself by getting creative or trying out new hobbies. Get absorbed in someone else’s life for a while through a novel, movie, or asking people about themselves.
Work through your emotions rather than thở suppressing them; try journaling, meditating, or talking with a trusted friend or family thành viên.
Take yourself on a date to tát your favorite restaurant.
Openly communicate how you feel. Sometimes being vulnerable with your friends can help deepen your friendship and correct any miscommunications.
Create your plans and invite other people to tát come along. Instead of ruminating over friends who left you out of their plans, you can forge new social connections by asking acquaintances to tát join you for a movie, drink, class, or concert.

Wanting to tát belong is completely natural and even essential to tát survival. You deserve friends who make you feel lượt thích a part of the group, but you can’t always control how other people treat you.

You can, however, become more confident in yourself sánh that you don’t feel sánh sensitive to tát rejection. Learn How to tát Build Rock-Solid Self-Esteem in 8 Weeks (or Less!) to tát feel more empowered to tát love who you are regardless of the social situation.

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