I'm also an introvert and at first found a lot of social events awkward. What helped me a lot was really internalizing that these people are just people and wor

I'm also an introvert and at first found a lot of social events awkward. What helped me a lot was really internalizing that these people are just people and work didn't matter, these people are still funny to hang around with. In other words, really dissociating the fact that we worked together made it so I didn't have to put up some facade, I could actually enjoy the events and choose to go to the ones I wanted but not feel guilty bailing on some. I still distinctly feel different whenever a VP or higher level manager joins, but when it's just my team it's a lot more comfortable and has led to a lot of friendships that extend beyond our working relationship.