How can I be a better shut-in in the short term (details inside)?

Why don’t you like leaving home? I hate being home alone. I need interaction with people. Plus I don’t mind challenges like the weather.

@Adirondackwannabe I have anxiety about new things… I live close to shopping but most stores are on the other side of a big scary highway. I want to be comfortable sitting on a couch or using the laptop in my bed room and doing stretches every so often.

@talljasperman I have a saying when I’m faced with anything new: You don’t know if you don’t try. I use it with everything, restuarants, stores, anything. I’ve had some home runs, I’ve had some so so’s, and I’ve had some crap. But the good outweighs the bad 90 percent of the time.

I’m confused about your objective here.

Do you want to be a hermit, or do you want, as you said in your details, to “practice interacting with people in a safe and happy environment”?

If you want to interact with people face-to-face in a friendly and safe environment, which is a laudable goal if you have trouble doing that, then I would recommend joining meetup.com for some meetups in your area that appeal to you. There’s no investment required, and the meetups themselves can be as anonymous as you would like them to be: first name only, and no other contact information is necessary (other than the meetup account itself and an email supplied there). If you attend a meetup and don’t like it, then you can simply withdraw, and it will be like you were never there.

I’m a member of several meetups in Connecticut, and though I don’t have any particular anxiety about getting out of the house and going places, I generally prefer my own company, anyway. But the meetups are nice, and I can choose which ones to attend (sometimes based on who else will be there).

On the other hand, if you’re intending to hole up in your cave and shut out the world, you’re doing pretty well as it is. I would also recommend the book Drinking the Rain by Alix Kates Shulman, which you can buy online for around $5 or so (shipping included in the USA) and learn how she did it.

I think. as a shut-in, you are doing just fine, if that’s what you want. Be sure you have a way of getting help in case you have medical or dental problems. Have someone check in every few days, although, if your mother does that, she’d miss you. Be sure all your papers, monetary and otherwise, are in order, Do you have a pet? That might fill your need for someone to care for. (Most of us have that need, but you may not.)
I wish you well and hope you will continue to communicate through Fluther.

@CWOTUS I would like to observe and explore my new neighbourhood but I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes… like giving to much personal info to strangers…
@Sunny2 Thanks.

One cannot guarantee that the people that you will meet will be congenial.
So always have an escape plan , money on you, transportation at the ready.
Of course it all depends how long you have lived there?
It takes time to adjust to new surroundings, and perhaps when the weather is warmer
in the Summer months , you would then want to go out more?

May I ask how old you are?

I have become a shut-in for lack of transportation and poor physical health to get around on foot for any significant distances. I’m still struggling with it and hoping improved weather will help. Soon, please!