So before I begin I know that seddit is mostly advice for the college and older audiences and that high schoolers are generally looked down on here at this subreddit, hence the "Don't upvote" in the title. All of what I am looking for is related to high school game so for those who began game after high school might not be able to help me that much, all help if appreciated though, thank you seddit!

A little background: I am currently a sophomore in high school who recently started to get over extremely severe social anxiety. I am very athletic and work out constantly, it helps me calm myself, however I currently play no sports or are a member of any clubs or anything outside of school classes because I previously was too afraid to put myself in a situation like that(social anxiety's a bitch)

Because of my SA I have very few ties to any groups at all or any people in my high school. I was incredibly shy in my past and never opened myself up to anyone, I was a very good looking guy but was still incredibly shy and couldn't talk to girls even if they approached me first.

Recently my views have taken a complete 180 though, all of a sudden I don't feel the crippling sensation when begin to open myself up to a group of people and I fell like I can finally be myself when I'm by other people, even if I don't really know them at all! I just woke up one morning and instead of just being afraid of the social encounters or interactions that would take place, I asked myself: Why am I afraid of talking to people, or why is anyone shy at all. Now for me to explain what I learned that day would be a completely different post. For all intents and purposes though just know that I just stopped giving a fuck from there on out after that revelation.

I still however, have several things that I'm struggling with though because of my past

1) Approaches: As of the last couple of months I have started to develop some very good friendships with the people around me. However all of these relationships were ones that I started because I had an excuse to talk to them, being near them in class or something like that. I still have no idea how to begin talking to a stranger outside of a classroom though, I still feel like I need to give people and/or myself an excuse to be talking to them so that I feel like I am not putting myself as majorly as I am.

Not only that but I have no idea what to do in an initial approach for someone in a high school situation such as a hallway or lunchroom. I have browsed seddit for quite a while now and looked for advise along these lines but it seems generally seddit covers bars and situations like that. If there was a person who perhaps was more outgoing in their high school years than I was and could tell me how they approached strangers that they didn't know before or how they got to know others that would be so incredibly helpful, I cannot describe how much that would help me.

2) Stigma: Because of my past I am considered to be a bit on an introvert and not very well known for my high school. The population of my high school is about 2000 people and most of them have known me before as the stereotypical "shy guy". I am concerned with how people will react to me if I undergo a sudden outgoing personality suddenly how people will see the change.

tl'dr: I recently got over severe social anxiety, and could use help with how to meet new people in my high school.

Well that's it seddit, If any of you have any insight for my situation or advice for my future that would be amazing. I'll be back in a bit to ask some questions for you commenters if you don't mind. If not, thanks for reading