I almost tried accept and live with my loneliness for years as I thought I would need practice later on in life. It actually wasn't _all_ that bad, but I'm prob

I almost tried accept and live with my loneliness for years as I thought I would need practice later on in life. It actually wasn't _all_ that bad, but I'm probably not a normal person. What got me a bit out of my shell was going out on dates from tinder or other dating platforms, and really you should venture into it as "I'd love to go to {XYZ} and check it out, I just feel weird (tons of anxiety) going by myself. It'd be great to just meet someone else there and try to enjoy the place together, regardless of whether or not it'll go anywhere relationship-wise." I find it still really hard to make male friends as a male. I've even gotten numbers from other guys who I've met at a bar and had a blast with all night, but it's still just a little bit weird to call the guy afterwards. In order to make male friends, I think it takes a shared interest in something and repetition. Maybe through a meetup or a weekly rec-league dodgeball game or something that you wouldn't hate dragging yourself to. Making that first step _is_ tough though. Good thing is that it's usually the toughest.