I've found journaling and introspection to be helpful for building confidence. Sharing some questions below intended for you to journal through:
> But I question myself, who cares what people think? But subconsciously I clearly care very deeply what EVERYONE thinks and it’s exhausting.
I think you've hit it on the nose here!
Have you focused on this point in therapy?
What role do you think family and cultural background might play?
(Aside: I grew up in a collectivist culture and my family is quite traditional—people pleasing is the norm!)
What would it take for you to like yourself even if other people don't like you?
> I’m dumb as bricks in other areas - social situations with more than 1 person are extremely hard to navigate, I constantly have relationship issues with everyone, I find the workplace and jobs impossible to perform in even though I have innate ability in what I do.
In her book Scout Mindset, Julia Galef suggests there are two types of confidence:
1. Epistemic confidence—certainty in something, like a weather prediction
2. Social confidence—comfort with other people, and self assurance. It sounds like you might consider focusing on building social confidence.
What is your inner dialogue like? How do you talk to yourself generally? (Are you hard on yourself? Were your parents hard on you?)
Did you grow up learning that you could only feel confident after you've "earned it" or had a good reason to? (Kunal Gupta wrote a good post on this here: https://www.howto.live/post/confidence)
> When I say confidence I mean quiet confidence, confidence in my own actions and abilities and lot in life x social interactions.
I feel certain that just by defining confidence for yourself so clearly, you're going to get there sooner or later!