I was very recently in the same situation, Saft. I have always soloed my school projects because I can concentrate better without other people talking and trying to do their part in front of me. For a course called Freshman Foundations, we had to work in a group of five to complete a project. At first, I was totally lost and felt overwhelmed. This totally went against my grain. However, it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared it would be.
First off, we elected a group leader, one who would organize all that needed to be done and who would get each person doing a part. Our topic was recycling. I forget the exact assignments, but it basically went like this: The leader decided that we needed to cover how to recycle, why we should recycle, what happens if we don’t recycle, and so forth. The leader then asked for a volunteer for each part, and we each picked which part we wanted to do.
Then, we each worked on our own part by ourselves, then combined the pieces when we met up again. Don’t think of it as working in a group. That can just sound scary for people like us, those who struggle a bit more in social situations. Think of it as a group organizing solo parts. Don’t look at the subject like one big topic that you all have to work on, but instead only focus on one part and do it as a single person. At first, the general topic of recycling overwhelmed me. Then I got my one, small part and it was relatively simple.
If I were you, I would just get together with whoever the leader is, and get one part to focus on and do it on your own. Looking at a whole pie can seem like quite a thing to tackle, but if you cut it into pieces and share them with others, you can get a lot done. Don’t see it as a group eating a whole pie, see it as you eating one piece of it. Then, the big task becomes small for you. Hm, I hope this advice wasn’t utterly stupid. You should know by now that advice isn’t my strongpoint. I can only try my best.
