I studied humans
Are you an alien? Robot maybe? This whole thing reads as if you are are not human and experiencing emotions from outside of other people’s perception. We all have emotions too, we know what it’s like to be human. We don’t need a lecture on ourselves. The way you write about other people is demeaning and off putting. Referring to potential friends or girlfriends as HUMANS is weird, dude. You write so confidently about how you seem to understand yourself and your emotions, but then don’t understand you were nervous to speak to a girl about your emotions. Understand that just because you studied psychology, that doesn’t mean you can treat yourself as a psychologist would.
human connections would increase my quality of life
Other people don’t exist to increase YOUR quality of life. Friendship is not something where you wear a badge that says you are “friend-ready” and people line up to adore you. Relationships of all sort are based on mutual respect and admiration. Do the things you like and be genuinely nice, attentive, and understanding. You’ll have no problem connecting with people.
Brother, if that were the case I’m not sure you’d be posting on Lemmy looking for advice on how to connect with fellow homo sapiens. You’d be out there connecting with people. So there’s the answer: Get out there and connect with people. You’ll figure out who is worth your time and who isn’t.