I was at a club couple weeks ago. And my deal breaker with women is smoking. But thing is, there were couple of hot women throughout the night that I didn't see smoking. So there was no excuse there not to at least approach.

I even met couple cool dudes that coaxed and hyped me up to approach. The conditions were perfect.

Yet I couldn't. I literally beat myself up (lightly tapped myself on the chest) for being unable to approach. My body was telling me one thing, and even part of my mind too, but another hyper rational part was like "what if she thinks you are a creep/harasser, you don't even know what to say, you never even got rejected before and a rejection would probably send you into depression (even tho the opposite would probably happen)" etc.

And I figure - it is only a failure if I give up and stop trying to approach. And I do need to lower my inhibition since it is clearly working against me in such social situations where everyone is "wild and free".

So, how do I lower my social inhibitions to "I don't give a fuck" without intoxication (alcohol, drugs etc.)? Do I like do a series of 10 push ups in the toilet or what?

Ideally I'd approach without lowering my inhibitions artificially, but I don't see any other way. Like, generally in life I am a bit what you could call soft, but I came through in similar stressful situations, I could at least "pip-squeak" my desires silently, and then practice it to become bolder (e.g. salary negotiation, dealing with rude people in public, returning defective items in stores etc.). But here I am like 100% blocked.

The only time I ever felt such a huge mental blockade was when I was trying to do a cartwheel the first time.