I made a lot of progress with my social anxiety, I can sometimes go up to a person I don't know too well on campus and start a convo, but the thing is, now it doesn't go anywhere. Especially after the first convo or so, it just ends up being full of silence and I walk away from the conversation feeling upset.

Then I stop trying to speak to new people altogether, because it actually seems pointless since I know that even if I brave the social anxiety and try speaking to them, I won't have anything to say.

There's just nothing to talk about. I'm not up to anything ever, so I don't have any stories to talk about myself - I can't change this due to life circumstances. I also don't feel the need to watch anime or play games, which seem to be the basis of many friendships here. I'm not going to start watching anime or playing games simply for the sake of making friends. I understand "doing things together" is really helpful for deepening connections, but there's not much I can (or would like to do). I play chess sometimes when I can but then people turn that down often (understandably). Mental health is crap so responding to "how are you?" to someone I just met isn't easy either.

Starting conversations is difficult. I made my own template for approaching new people at school but it hardly ever goes beyond the surface. I try making small talk but it doesn't go far either. Not to mention it's incredibly draining and I don't like saying random stuff I don't actually care about just to start a conversation.