Re: "Just be yourself and you will meet people who appreciate you for who you are."
It is more complicated than that. Most people socialise with acquaintances and friends because they jsut happen to move in the same circles or do the same stuff together, and have people they know in common or some interests in common or whatever. Some people like you, some people don't, some might like certain things about you but not others, and decide based on that whether the good stuff outweighs the bad and hence whether to be your friend.
Ever watched big brother? Most people are nice to eachother at the beginning, but the more they got to know eachother you always get people that clash. I suspect that's hwo things work in the real world, people meet and sometimes it doesn't work but othertimes you got yourself a friend. I've met some people and some of them like me and some don't bother. I can't expect everyone to like me, cause everyone has different personalities.
Also 'who you are' is not who you are when you are fearful and want to hide and cut short the interaction asap. Who you are is when you are relaxed enough to share what you think and like, or dislike, and what you do for others and yourself, as well as how you relate to people. Most people have problems, and sometimes they hide the bad side from people. How else does it explain that relationships tend to break up after a couple know eachother for longer, allowing them to discover bad habits and values. In that sense there is some pretending going on with normal people, cause from my observations they sort of pick up their attitude and optimism when they need to socialise, and reserve the sad side for a close friend or relative, or maybe not at all.
There are different degrees to pretending and puttin up an act. Some goto extremes and have a whole different persona. Some will just alter they tone of voice or smile more or act more interested. Some will laugh a lot. I do that with people I don't know well. I don't consider that selling out or anything. You need a certian degree of pretending to hide your fears and bad emotions from the world at large whenever you are socialising.
You'll always get ****ty people who won't appreciate anyone outside a certain stereotype, but why woould you want to know them or care what they tink anyways. I've seen a lot of eccentric people in the media in the UK, eccentricities are celebrated. If you are quircky, be confident of yourself. I think what puts people off is is you are self conscious of your certain qualities. People are intrigued by interesting or 'weird' if you like, people who aren't ashamed of it.
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