need courage...

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I just wanted to mention, part of what's happening to me, and it seems happens to a lot of others on this site, is the main concern of not making a social mistake. The mistake of saying something stupid or offending someone, which is annoying or devastating for someone as self-conscious of their every word and socializing, as I've become.
When I was younger, I was braver-- I spoke to people and had a much better ability to handle social situations. Some people didn't like me and some liked me a lot, but that happens to everyone, even "normal" people. In a sense, I kinda knew inside that I was faking it. My views about people and life in general was also very cynical and maybe harsh, at times. All that's changed, although the pessimism is still there.
I think focusing too much on my "differentness" of others might be backfiring because in essence it is sort of limiting myself to thinking a certain way about myself and people, life, etc. They say "practice makes perfect" and I want to be able to handle myself in situations of daily life because I feel very vulnerable and naive now. I lost most of my social skills due to isolating a lot.
I'm starting to think the only way I'm going to get through this is by just going out there and talking, maybe feeling awkward, maybe messing up or offending someone, and just keep practicing my social skills. It's gotten to be too lonely to worry about being good at socializing...

If you are going to go looking for places to meet people, you could trying 'practicing' on people you are not likely to see again. That's what I would in your situation.

That sounds like a good idea. I think I'm kinda doing that a bit. It's a lot of awkward moments at the supermarket, post office, and doing "normal stuff."

If you can find a club/group of one of your main interests, I would suggest joining that to practice talking to people. It's easier to work up the nerve to talk when you're well informed of the main interest at hand.