Yes, there are definitely people who can make friends at the drop of a hat. I was thinking about joining a local hiking club, and then I thought about it a bit more and decided that making conversation with total strangers with nothing but the trees to provide a topic sounded appalling. But I know there are people who could do it.

The fandom thing is also an issue, definitely. I have been thinking about seeing a therapist and honestly a big part of my hesitation is the fact that I don't know how I would explain fandom's place in my life to someone who might have no understanding of it. "Well, I spent a year writing 200,000 words of Captain America fanfic rather than working on my pro writing career, so..." I feel like this might be hard for an outsider to understand.