You could try “I’m going to do this thing on this day. If you would like to join me, I’ll be there at this time. Let me know if you’re coming by (RSVP date) so that I can book you a spot/plate/room: it will be $this much.” And then make your plans and do them anyway.

This way it’s clear that you are doing the thing. If people say “can we do this or this instead?” you reply with “Hey, great idea! Maybe next time. I’ve already planned the other thing for this time.”

Sometimes it will be on your own. Sometimes others will want to join you. Sometimes you can join others on their quests, too, but remember to not try and change their plans to suit yourself.

Sounds like you’re meeting up with big groups and many people pulling different directions? Try smaller meetings.

Instead of making plans with friends, plan your activity and invite friends. If you’re the defining factor, and plan your activity as it is, others may join or not.

The fewer people you involve, the more stable the plan will be as well.

Thank you for the AI Disclaimer and owning up to the words it spit out, at least you’re being honest about it, and that’s respectable. 👍

My personal opinion is don’t expect anything.

You can try to plan everything out, but almost never will things go perfectly according to plans. And the more effort you put into planning, the less likely things actually go according to plan.

If you’re just trying to enjoy time with friends, then plans might as well be just suggestions, but sometimes you just gotta roll with whatever happens, and get a good laugh when Jeremy pukes behind the car LOL!

Sometimes you just gotta live in the moment…

One thing every other comment has failed to mention is that, to be comfortable around other people, you must first be comfortable with yourself fully. And, because of that, I recommend you keep doing activities by yourself, and try new things by yourself, at least at first. Discover who you actually want to be, while still respecting everyone’s freedom, including your own.

it gets reshaped into something I don’t want

It is bizarre that this happens so regularly to you. Could you go into detail, like at least 3 examples of this? What’s going on?

First, it’s not only you: making plans that accommodate everyone’s schedules and budgets can be tricky, especially if a lot of people are involved, so you might not be doing anything wrong. You can try letting them know what you want to do earlier in advance so that they know not to make plans for the day. People are more likely to respond to concrete dates, times, and locations instead of vague ones.

Also not all of your friends are going to share your hobbies and interests and that’s ok. Try inviting just the ones you know for sure enjoy the things you do, or joining clubs or activity groups for those things to potentially meet new people to do them with. The time with your other friends can be spent on things you know they want to participate in and can afford.

Appreciate the honesty about the AI disclaimer.

Make friends with people who also love what you love?

I don’t have any shared hobbies or interests with any of my friends (and very few with my wife!) besides going somewhere, putting things in our mouths and yapping the day/night away. Idk, it never felt weird to me, but I might just be a bit of a boring guy since I mostly like reading, talking (IRL and online) and playing single-player videogames so it all fits for me?

This is very normal. Especially if you don’t have kids and some of your friends do, or if your work schedule isn’t a standard 9 to 5 and all your friends are on that. Once your group gets bigger than 5 or 6 people, coordinating schedules is basically impossible.

Don’t take it personally. It’s likely nothing about trying to change your plans, but rather just trying to find some middle ground in the plans that works for everyone. Don’t set your own expectations so high that anything that isn’t perfect leaves you miserable.

You have 2 options: 1) As mentioned, just say at this time in this day you’re doing something and anyone who wants to join is free to do so, knowing full well that some people will feel FOMO. 2) Try and do something and be fine with the plans changing to get the larger group, because that’s the point, not the activity itself.

It would be helpful to have an example (or more) of what you suggested and what ended up happening.

Other people have good advice, but I’m wondering if you are planning things which are a bit niche, or if your friends have strange interests, or if you find it difficult to enjoy normal activities.

There are lots of activities that people do that I’m not that interested in, but I’ll go along anyway and still have a good time - it wouldn’t be my first choice, and I’d be annoyed if my plans always got taken over in favour of them, but I wouldn’t be “visibly miserable” doing something like this: for example, one time we ended up going out for “electric shuffle” (just shuffleboard which is electronically scored) which is pretty expensive for what it is, but whatever. The main attraction is being with friends and interacting, anyway.

I remember one time I planned a cycling trip and everyone I invited ended up doing something else (I can’t remember what, but I remember distinctly it being something they could have done on any weekend). I was a bit miserable at that but still had a good time on my own.

Yeah this is why I hate making plans, no one else puts in any effort into finding things to do or they don’t want to pay for anything and then every outing becomes sitting in a bar shooting shit or going to a movie that either I don’t care for or the others don’t, I usually just do things by myself these days and I enjoy it a lot more, maybe someday I’ll find friends with common interest I actually want to hang out with, for now I’ve become very comfortable being by myself

What are these “friends” of which you speak?

That’s the neat part, I don’t!

I find friends who enjoy the things I like to do??