Could barely talk a year ago. I was very depressed and lonely. Have went to stay at psychiatric clinics a couple of times. Only just recently got out again, but this time it was shorter than usua, only a couple of days. I’ve made some progress and now i can actually form a coherent sentence. Still incredibly afraid to talk to people. Still, after all this time I really don’t know the basics of social interaction How do you initiate a conversation with someone? How do you make friends?
I know it’s always said but absolutely hobbies, if you have a games shop near you they might run a D&D or other ttrpg game you can join, and expensive to get into but warhammer(some places do run games where you can use store models, free mini painting class etc) just by playing you’ll naturally get into conversations and seeing the same people repeatedly you’ll naturally develop friendships
Education is another big one, don’t worry about if you’re ‘too old’, find a community college or adult learning center take a course on something you’re interested in and students will naturally talk to eachother and often(and if no one else does you should start it) there’ll be a group chat to swap notes etc, after a little while when you’ve are relatively comfortable with at least some of the others suggest a social outting like drinks or food
Similarly volunteering is also a good way, especially something where you’d be manning a kiosk/desk with another person with so with all the downtime you’ll talk and hopefully click
I personally don’t have any experience with it, but thought I mention because I haven’t seen any one else comment on it but I assume amateur team sports would be a fast track to getting in a friend group, but only if that’s your thing don’t force yourself to do something you don’t like
the big thing is cast a wide net and don’t get discouraged if you don’t instantly become best friends with someone on your first outting, just by seeing the same people often enough, being friendly and having a good attitude relationships will naturally form and friendships will eventually blossom