I am incredibly socially awkward. In fact, I'm so incredibly socially awkward that I generally come off as an asshole, a wanker, or a scared little boy-- or some combination of the three. I have had an incredibly minimal amount of real life social interaction over the course of the last year, and I am just now getting out of my shell.

I have never been socially excellent, but I have managed to keep a good number of friends. My problem now is that I can't seem to make any new ones in a new social environment.

Depending on the interaction I sometimes feel like Liam Neeson in this clip and sometimes maybe the Crack Fox from The Mighty Boosh and everywhere and all around in between. Depressing, awkward, uncouth, uncomfortable, and inescapably weird.

The thing is though, I shouldn't be like this. By any outside observations, I've got a lot going for me: I'm still youngish (25), have a well-paid job, live in a nice apartment, listen to hip music, am willing to explore new things, am in decently moderate physical shape, and am not horrendously ugly.. I'm friendly when I'm in a good mood...

Do I just need to get out? Shake off the dust of the last year and be willing to make mistakes? Can someone just tell me that it's all going to be okay? What can I expect to encounter in this horribly awkward period I have looming ahead of me? What are some simple hints I can use to avoid the worst of it? I haven't had real healthy good social interaction in a solid year. (Not WoW, believe it or not, but reddit and a move to a new place that I responded to by becoming a hermit)..

I want to make friends. Women can come after I make some friends.

I want to avoid emanating desperation, yet be open to others in a way that invites them to be friendly with me in a non-embarrassing way for both parties. I don't want to be an asshole or cocky and full of myself either, because lord knows that's my go-to defense mechanism.

I didn't really know where else to post this. Many of you (the actual in-field operators) seem to have gone through periods of significant awkwardness and social discomfort, so I figured you'd be a good group to ask. (I don't consider myself involved with the pick up scene, but I have absorbed some good life-improvement ideas from you guys in the past.)

Help?

TL;DR: I'm a scared little boy / wanker in a whole new world and I seem to have forgotten how to interact with other people in pleasant, non-awkward ways... seeking some helpful words to ease my return into socialness