Sometimes it works for me, but only when I'm able to forget myself. It's just that they live in a world that's still whole, that still makes sense to them, where there is justice, beauty, everlasting youth, safety, etc etc and I live in this wasteland trying to survive somehow on radiated water and rat carcasses. It's hard to get on a wavelength with these people without being drunk; sometimes I have something like a paradoxical reaction to my circumstances and I get really energetic and outgoing and make jokes the whole night but it's gotten less and less frequent over the years where now I try to spare my friends the disappointment of hanging out with me. I don't want to burst their bubble (not that I even could, they just think there's something wrong with me; I console myself sometimes with the fact that the day will come, when they, on their deathbeds or in old age will realize that I was right, that this life sucks (can suck, sucks for many if not most) and will have this eureka moment haha... But probably no, they won't).
Don't beat yourself up. I know toxic people with a lot of "friends", status, etc..