Here's a second confession: I used to hate small talk so much that I would literally hide and change my route on the street if I saw a familiar-but-not-quite-friend coming from a distance.

If you keep experiencing the same problem with multiple people... then the problem is not the other people.

The common factor in this equation is you. You're either stuck in a set of inaccurate beliefs around how something is supposed to be. Or you're behaving in ways that keep attracting certain kinds of people and/or situations.