I can't talk to people

I hate myself and I feel like everyone thinks I'm too ugly and uninteresting to bother with.

I just want you to know that it's ok to feel like this, more people than you realise do.

Don't you dare. I felt this way to the point of physical harm before realising that it's unfair. You don't get to decide what people think of you, you can only influence it. If you go to someone with the mindset that you're not worth talking to, it'll seriously effect the way you conduct yourself. Your shooting yourself in the foot and then complaining your foot hurts. Please, stop.

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to copy-paste a response I made to a similar thread a while back rather than re-write the whole anecdote. For context, I went through school as teh weird kid. The shy kid. The one who eats lunch alone because he doesn't feel his company is worth the time.

My story
When I started Uni, I knew no one. Whatsoever. Nobody. So i used this chance to completely re-invent myself. I made it my mission to talk and talk and talk. My words would come out wrong, and like a kid with ADHD I'd be on such a roll that I'd be the first to laugh about it. Hell, I'd laugh before I even finish my sentence, and go off topic with how silly what i just said was! I'd talk utter nonsense. Sometimes I'd say something completely absurd, and when people said "Omg, really!?" I'd just say "Nah, I'm lying" and start laughing again.

They came to know me as great fun and very interesting to be around. I'm sure many people probably hated how much BS I talked, but once again i beat them to it and joked about myself talking shi- all the time. When people commented on how much I talk and fall off topic, again, I'd laugh about it and say "You're completely right ahahah", and just say I can't stand silence. This is a lie, I treasure silence like a love child but I just wanted to be an outgoing person, regardless of who it annoyed. On this note, again, I'd pre-empt the idea of me annoying people by calling myself names and being very real about it all, again, laughing about it with the mentality and phrase "Well, ball to them!" being my motto.

I found that smiles and laughter are key. They're infectious. While school kids may look at you like you're weird, screw them! If they think that the school hierarchy of "Cool vs not cool" is in anyway applicable, that's just another thing you can laugh at. Besides, it's infectious like I say. If you're smiling while making your point and maybe even throwing some bad jokes in with it, people will enjoy listening to you regardless of what you say. Even if yo0u say something and it's wrong, just say "Oh, ahahaha, woops" and pull a little smile.

A guy who helped me form this mentality in the first place in on youtube. Yourcharismacoach. Now, most of what he says is cheesy and seems absurd, but his base premise is undeniable. You have to believe in yourself and put yourself out there. You have to focus on your own enjoyment and that enjoyment will then spread to those around you like a happy plague.

Hope this helps in some way.

You're right that I'm shooting myself in the foot. I'm so scared of rejection that I don't talk. It might sound silly but I find the basics like smiling at people difficult. If I'm quiet and don't act happy or confident then no one can push me into my shell by letting me know they think I shouldn't express my opinions and shouldn't be confident. Thing is it also means I'm a target for nasty people, so I still get hurt