There's a reason I don't especially like being around people most of the time.
It has nothing to do with me actually disliking the act of socializing. Truth be told, one of my favorite things to do is just sit and talk with others, whenever I can find a good conversation to have and an engaging person to have it with. It also has nothing to do with anxiety, although I would be lying if I said that I'm fine with having conversations while my anxiety is acting up.
No, the reason I don't like being around people is because, as much as I don't like to say it, many of them are not healthy to be around. Some are vapid, purposefully limited creatures who don't like to think very hard, and will actively shun those who do. Others are actively closed-minded and intolerant, refusing to accept anything that doesn't fit into their view of what should and shouldn't be. Others still are backstabbing, scheming wretches who willfully manipulate people and situations around them in order to further their own agendas, and yet still others are delusional victim-players who operate under the assumption that the world owes them everything they want and that anyone who believes otherwise is the enemy.
And then you have the majority which, I've found, are a combination of at least two of the above.
I'm not unaware, however, of the many virtues that people can have as individuals, or of the fact that at least 50% of the people in the world (yes, even those who fall into most of the above categories) don't actively approach the world around them with ill intent. I don't think that all people are bad, and I also don't think that the groups of people mentioned above are incapable of doing any good in their lives. They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and if I am being perfectly honest, many people in the world do have good intentions.
That doesn't mean that many of them can be trusted, though. If anything, it makes trusting those with seemingly good intentions even harder. Not because those intentions could be false (although they very well could be), but because those intentions can lead them down terrible roads down which I have no interest in following them.
Unfortunately, the dark side of that coin is that I find myself questioning my own thoughts and actions for the same reason that I question those of the people around me. The more I expose myself to others, the harder it is to be sure that my own behaviors and the ways in which I approach my life are any less backwards than the people I have trouble putting my faith and trust in. I sometimes look back on my own behaviors and see a reflection of the worst aspects of other people I've come in contact with, and I wonder suddenly whether or not I've lost my own way. And though I find it necessary to remind myself of those behaviors (so as not to repeat them), I always subsequently contemplate whether or not those worse choices I've made are behaviors unconsciously adopted from others, or behaviors that would have sprung from within myself no matter what. After which I find myself re-evaluating all of the people I've chosen to interact with. And that's never fun no matter how many times I do it.
But I digress. I would very much be fine with the idea of being able to trust my interactions with everyone around me, if that were feasible. But it isn't, and because of that, I frequently find myself preferring not to interact at all, so as not to fall down any of the rabbitholes that come with speaking to people who may or may not serve as a detriment to me if I allow them into my life for longer than the briefest seconds. If companionship is unreliable, then nine times out of ten, I would rather be alone. It's easier for me to be by myself, both in the sense of being able to evaluate my own problems more clearly and in the sense of not having more problems added to the list.
I only wish that someday, perhaps, this can no longer be the case.