My sister's comment is worth repeating in case you missed it the first time...
My reasoning goes like this: I am a lovely person so if someone doesn't like me, they are obviously stupid. I don't want to be friends with a stupid person so I don't care whether they like me.
In the meantime, I've been focusing on doing something that has been fairly high on my List Of Things I'm Scared Of for many years - learning to speak German.
Now, I realise speaking German isn't inherently frightening - millions of people do it every single day without wibbling or quavering. I really do understand that nothing bad will happen to me if I open my mouth and speak some German phrases.
It's not so much the learning German that's been the problem - more a fear of looking like an idiot if I pronounce something wrong. I've got friends from other countries who speak many languages and say this is just something you have to get over, and all are of the opinion that English people are particularly fearful of it on the whole (although of course there are many exceptions).
I did a German GCSE, and a French one, so I obviously spoke some words in both languages at some point. But clearly I didn't learn them properly, because last week the only words of German I could speak were
Mein Name ist Jenni. Ich bin funfzehn yahre alt.
But spurred on by one friend moving to Austria, and another two to Berlin, and the thought that it might be nice to visit and say something more than that, I decided it was about time I got over myself.
Somehow I found myself on the Fluent in 3 Months website, and reading through the blog archives encouraged me to think that I could at least learn a few words, and there was nothing to be scared of really. I told myself I'd only have to speak them in front of my friends, not in public, and that if I was still really scared, I didn't have to speak at all (they all speak English, so we wouldn't have been sitting in silence).
But as it turns out, it's not actually that difficult to learn a few German phrases! I've been using the Anki app on my phone - it gives you flashcards of the 4000 most common German words, one at a time. If you don't know a word, it comes round again in a few minutes, and through simple repetition the words seem to be going into my head.
I've also written out a few key phrases, and am trying to say them at every opportunity. Useful things - I need the toilet, I would like a shower, I'm tired, I'm hungry (gosh, I sound like a demanding toddler!)
The thing I'm most excited about is something I haven't started yet. On the Fluent in 3 Months website, they suggest that reading young adult fiction is a good way to get familiar with a language. So you have the same book in both English and German, and a dictionary, and you read a sentence at a time, noting things you don't know.
Of course, I've chosen Harry Potter. I found an English copy of the first book in a charity shop at the weekend, ordered a German copy online, and have been watching out for the postman ever since.
Harry und Hermine winken ihre Wünsche!
Even if it is entirely about wizards.