So as the title says, I’m almost 30 years old and haven’t gotten laid since I was 25, have only had one 3 month long distance relationship that involved sex, have been addicted to porn basically my whole adult life and have tried quitting for a few years. Being that I’m approaching 30, I’ve tried to get as many bad habits out of my system as possible over the past year. I’ve cut back immensely on porn and masturbation to the point where I really feel I can quit for good this time, I had my longest streak of 50 days last fall. I’ve started eating healthier, working out, picking up an old hobbie in photography that I used to love to get me out of the house more, and even hired a dating coach (non PUA type) to point me in the right direction. He’s very introverted like me and has helped me with some of my negative beliefs and mindsets, but I feel like his methods aren’t helping me. He has recommended me to just go out during the day on weekends and go to the mall and places with lots of foot traffic and basically go up to women and initiate with an opener like “hey, I just saw you and thought you looked amazing and had to come meet you.” Honestly, I’ve only done this a handful of times and haven’t had the courage to do it enough times to feel comfortable but my concern is that this doesn’t work, even though it’s how he meets women. Maybe I just need to get out of my head and do it more often but I just feel like I missed out on my twenties where everyone else learns this stuff because I was too shy and afraid and anxious and too addicted to porn to go out and meet real women. But now that I’m fed up with that life and wanting to change, I feel like women will think a guy who’s basically 30 years old who’s only had sex a handful of times in the past 10 years will reek of desperation. I know age shouldn’t matter but I just don’t know where to start or if I’m even going in the right direction, I feel like it will take forever for me to get the results I want and I want to be able to date all the young women I missed out on before I’m too old. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, please be as blunt or harsh as needed, I feel so lost and bitter with myself.