When did you start wanting a normal social life...if ever?

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I've never wanted one. I enjoy how things are and wouldn't want to induce too much change. From what I can gather about 'normal' social lives, they involve lots of alcohol, partying, and small talk, all of which I despise.

In short: I don't want to become what annoys me.

When I heard I should have one. Then I learned what it meant, and realized I didn't want it at all.

For the longest time, I just wanted 1 friend. Then around 16, I actually wanted a normal social life. When I started making friends at 18, it took me 4.5 yrs to achieve a normal social life which I had for 4 months then I graduated from college , left 2000 miles back home. Back to not having a social life. I have a few friends that I see 2-3 times a month. Otherwise, I keep in contact with my 3 of them online and have a 2 good online friends. I guess I would have a normal social life if all my friends lived around my area.

I wanted a social life ever since I was 16. Ever since then, I've arranged my whole life to get one. I won't say that effort failed completely, but it's been frustrating, to say the least. I'm now learning ways to be more comfortable with my introverted self.

Pretty much since forever.

I didn't realize that everyone wasn't as alone as I was until I was about 22. That was when I made my first group of friends and ever since then, I've felt like I needed people, socially. Sometimes I wish I could go back to that time before when I was fine all alone, because needing people is messy and scary. But I'm thankful for the friends I've made, and my social life is still far from normal. I don't know if I'll ever have the typical experience of my peer group.

What I perceive as a 'normal' social life, as in the kind of life the majority of people seem to be engaged in, is something I want no part of. Most popular group activities hold no interest for me. And then there's the seemingly inevitable drama which eventually develops, and which I've no clue how to deal with. Just the thought of socializing is enough to leave me drained.

Somewhere along the way I tried to have a more normal life, but just couldn't figure out how to make it work. Not being able to fit in left me somewhat depressed for awhile, until I learned to accept myself for who and what I was. I looked at the downside of a 'normal' life and compared that to the utter peace I found in solitude, and decided to stick with the latter. The crazy human that is me is all I can handle. I prefer not to be around a bunch of other ones.

(I'm really not a stuck-up snob, although the above may indicate otherwise. I'm just sayin'.)

I put "I used to but now I don't" because there was a period of time that lasted roughly a year when I first started college that I had almost no social interaction beyond my immediate family and in-class discussions. This period taught me that being without peer interaction actually reduces my quality of life and leaves me mildly depressed, and as such I felt a strong desire to acquire a normal social life. I felt like I was failing socially both by my own standards and by my parents'. I didn't know about AS at the time.

Now I have a group of assigned friends and structured socialization through my fraternity. Knowing I have AS (or suspecting, as the case may be), I no longer desire for a "normal" social life because I understand why I never naturally had one and why having one now would be an unnecessary strain on my life.

Well when I was a kid I kinda wished I could be normal so I could enjoy things like other people, but yeah that did not happen. And now I've had pleanty of bad experiances and just the general lack of a social life growing up seem to have caused a lot of issues. I would love to have friends but I can hardly trust anyone in general.......even close family members have me me wondering sometimes. So yeah I don't really want to be normal or have a totally normal life, but I don't exactly like lonliness either.

Being "normal" is quite beyond my mental comprehension. I can't imagine enjoying the stuff "normal" people enjoy. Just the thought fills my head with pain.

I can't really recall a time when I actually desired a "normal social life". I have always desired having the ability to interact normally to achieve whatever desires I may have that necessarily involve social interaction and cooperation, but I never really desired a "social life" per se. The most of a "social life" I've ever wanted is a girlfriend, but that desire has been tempered by frustration with NTs, and petty NT females that seem to care about the silliest of things in particular.

Tell me about it. Female consumerism and vanity is probably responsible for global warming and environmental degradation. I know you aren't supposed to say things like that though.

It varies from time to time for me. Sometimes I'm content with myself, other times I want to be more NT.

Especially since industrialization and excessive use of fossil fuels is actually at fault.

I think Verdandi was being sarcastic there and doing the opposite of agreeing with you, but just in case I'm wrong about that, I would like to express a certain indignation at your comment. Men can be silly, greedy, vain creatures just as much a women can. And considering that women still generally get paid less than men for doing the same exact jobs (in the cases they can get the same exact jobs), it is incredibly statistically improbable that WOMEN's consumerism is the cause of global warming.

Silly boy, you forgot to do your research.

You’ve missed off one option.
The “I have a normal social life”.
I have a normal social life, normal for me, and normal for most of the friends I have. Whether I am as comfortable socialising as they are, I don’t know, but I’m able to fake it with the best of them.
Why fake it? You say! Because if you want what you call a “social life” you have to, in part, become what you are not. Even NTs have to do this. You have to pretend to be happy when you are not, outwardly going when you just want to hide and pull the pavement over your head, you have to ‘join in’ when you really want to be alone.
Even NT’s pretend; they just find it a bit easier to understand that this is all part of the game.