I knew someone that did something similar for the same reason, though it was conversations about his future with his mom that he was trying to avoid.
Something that helped with him is to go outside, NOT to interact with people, but just to go on hikes or walk, where you can keep your headphones in and not say a word to someone else, but just to get outside your room, which even though it’s a refuge, can also start to feel like a prison.
Honestly you interact with people much more indoors than outdoors, so viewing a walk as a form of peaceful solitude can be great for getting fresh air and exercise, and you’ll notice you get much less judgement from your roommates if your going outside. You’ll also notice your mental health will probably improve as well.
As someone who also learned a bit later and was mostly self taught, here’s my advice
First, all you really need to have a complete meal is protein, carbs and veggies. So pick a few healthily ones of each, something like: Carb: rice, pasta, quinoa Protein: fish, turkey, chicken Veggie: broccoli, spinach, peppers
(Obviously pick whatever you prefer)
But the idea is, get very comfortable just making those 9 things, and then mix and match/add spices to give variety. But aiming for those types of 3 piece meals will keep things manageable and nutritionally complete.
Then as you said, the next thing is fully cooking but not overcooking. And that, like anything, is just practice. Only piece of advice I’ll give is, whenever you move on to prepping another piece of food while something else is cooking on the stove, set it to low while you’ll do it. Prep will always take a bit longer than expected, and the food will burn.
Then last is, getting it all to come out at the same time. That also a bit of practice since you have to factor in prep, but again, for these 3 piece meals all cooked separately, it’s pretty easy to manage and estimate.
Then once you have these basic in your pocket, you can experiment, be creative, and try different things. But it will give you a solid base nutritionally and build you confidence as a cook.