As a shut in with social anxiety and very introverted
As someone who is similar, my advice is this. Get yourself one friend who is the exact opposite. If they care about you, they’ll basically force you to attend social functions and stuff with them, and that will put you into a situation to get more comfortable with more people. Their friends become your friends.
It’s already been mentioned, but I’ll throw in for Jitsi. I believe it can also be self-hosted.