curious whether it's the "out of the house" or the social anxiety that's bothering you? and are you expecting yourself to go alone to socialize or with a friend or group? I think it'd be a big challenge to go directly from barely leaving the house and uncomfortable on the phone and even routine non-personal social interactions (I was this way when younger), to going out to a loud crowded pretentious bar and flirting with strangers, but I think there's a lot of shades of grey in between those two extremes and you build up to it as you get comfortable and as circumstances/opportunities arise to be more social.
For me it's been years of slowly maturing out of it as I've become an adult and expected to do normal social stuff, but then I wasn't in a rush about it, it just sort of has happened as my perspectives on the world have changed and as life has pushed me out of one comfort zone into another... Also I'd still call myself a loner, but now I think it comes from just being equally comfortable alone and with others, and sort of doing cost-benefit about whether the potential interaction is worth the petty annoyances of socializing (taking time away from other pursuits, meeting up and waiting for people, spending money on overpriced drinks, dressing up/down, listening to boring people, crowds and sensory overload/unpleasantness, watching people eat non-vegan food...). It's funny how it seems like such a big deal while you're sitting there at home, but once you accustom yourself to meeting people it seems so vaguely pleasantly routine and unimportant, though sometimes with the prize of an instant intense connection and great conversation.  |