As usual you are spot on for many people. And I can relate a little when I hung-out in bars in my 20s and 30s. I wouldn't say that I ever repelled anyone - maybe once or twice.

In HS I was a wierdo and a nerd. When my 2 friends and I made movies I was told they only make movies in Hollywood and I was shunned.

I was always uncool and not sexy.

My old HS pal shunned me when he discovered I had moved to California in the early '80s to study Vipassanã Meditation with a 92 year old Cambodian Buddhist Monk. But when the mindfulness movement took root he warmed up a bit.

As I've grown spiritually beginning in 1975 I've attracted new friends, students, and I even had groupies in the 1990s. That was quite a wierd experience. I've always followed my own path and shooed people away from me that wanted to "worship me".

I have a core group a friends and that's fine by me.