Feeling socially behind at 28 because of lack of connection with women

I know I’ve made a lot of posts around this topic before, but I think I just needed to pour my thoughts out honestly because it’s been weighing on me lately.

Watching my friends or mutuals naturally have female friends, romantic interests, or relationships makes me jealous because I have almost zero interaction with women myself.

One of my close friends also got busy with his girlfriend recently and our friend group kind of fell apart after that, which made the loneliness hit harder. Looking back, I think the whole group was kind of dependent on him socially because he was the most outgoing/interesting one there. Once he got into a relationship and became busy, I realized I didn’t really feel that connected or fulfilled around the others either.

A big reason I don’t even initiate conversations with women is because I feel insecure about having zero experience or connection with them. I keep thinking they’ll somehow sense that immediately and judge me for it, which makes me avoid trying in the first place.

I’m 28 and I think that adds to the insecurity too. It feels like everyone else learned this stuff naturally years ago while I’m still stuck overthinking basic interaction because of social anxiety and low confidence.

I know comparison is unhealthy, but sometimes it genuinely feels like everyone else learned something socially that I missed, and I start tying my self-worth to my lack of experience with women.

Has anyone else gone through this? How do you stop feeling behind socially/romantically and build confidence naturally without obsessing over it?