I was very awkward in early sobriety. I too had used drinking for a long time to "open up" my personality with other people. I had a hard time going to meetings and introducing myself to other people. One of the things that helped was getting a coffee commitment at a meeting I had been going to regularly. Being the first one there, you're sort of forced to introduce yourself to people. Also, newcomers who show up tend to assume that you belong there and know what you're doing, so they ask you all sorts of questions. Then one day it hit me: being socially awkward is an incredibly self-centered way to move through the world. Now I don't doubt that some people have depression, or post acute withdrawal, or sometimes you just don't feel like being social, and that's fine. But the humility I am occasionally graced with by doing the work of the A.A. program helps me to accept where I'm at, but to show up anyway. It's not about how I look or who is thinking what about me, because most of the time I'm the only one thinking about me. It's about being helpful to the next person who walks through the door. It's not about being the funniest, the smartest, or the most awkwardest, or the shyest. I have made it a practice to say "awkwardness is a choice" to people, and it has a way of pissing them off. I believe it's true, for me anyway.