Third Person vs First?

Normally I write in first person, and that's because I feel way more connected to my MC that way. Third person feels so so distant. Like I'm only seeing these things happen through a window.

Now I have read books that were in third person, and I didn't feel disconnected at all! But I've also read ones that do make me feel that way. So I've been reluctant to read or write anything in third person for a long time now.

I have a basic idea of why this would be- obviously in first person, you're in the characters mind. It's kind of like seeing the world through there eyes, as your eyes. But still I'm wondering how to make my third person writing less disconnected. Any ideas?

What I usually do might be a bit off, correct me if I'm wrong.

I'll have one character that's seeing the story through their eyes. I'll still write in THIRD person, that way I can get behind all the characters to some extent. But I only have one per scene (it doesn't really work to write from inside two people's heads XD) that I'm really centered on. I'll say what they're thinking (ex. "What am I even doing here," Aria thought, "I can't do this alone...") and what they see and say. But, I don't say specifically what other characters are thinking, only what the character I'm centered on observes them doing.

Pardon if that was confusing.

It's like having the "through the character's eyes" from 1st person, and the overall view of the other characters from 3rd person.

I like writing in third-person limited because it filters the narration through the perspective of the character while at the same time providing more flexibility when it comes to exposition and description. It is less intimate than first-person since thoughts are a bit more tricky to slip into the narration, but that aside, i typically treat it as "first person but with descriptions that aren't limited to just what the character notices".

Something that you might find helpful is to take a scene you've written in first-person and try to retell it in third-limited, perhaps taking the opportunity to fold in some descriptions or observations you had to leave out (but really wanted to include) in the original first-person version.

That makes sense, @ChieRynn! That's what I thought I was doing or was trying to do with with third person I thiiiink.

@Kyllorac that makes sense too! I'll try that practice idea you mentioned.

Thanks guys!

Edited my post, accidentally wrote 1st instead of 3rd there...