How to start dating

I’m (26F) new here and honestly very inexperienced when it comes to dating. I’ve talked to a few men before, but I usually ended up ghosting them because intimacy scared me. I’ve never had a boyfriend, even though many men have approached me over the years.

I think a lot of it comes from how I grew up. I was kind of an “ugly duckling” as a teenager and got bullied a lot by boys at school. It affected me deeply. I became very anxious, tried to hide myself, and isolated myself at home a lot. Thankfully I had really good friends who would still drag me out to parties, vacations, and social things, and I also went to therapy for years which helped me heal a lot.

By the end of high school, things had changed. Most of the bullying stopped, and one of my biggest bullies even admitted he had liked me an thought I was beautiful the whole time. Since then, I’ve had a huge glow-up, become really interested in makeup and fashion, and stopped hiding myself away so much.

But now I’m kind of stuck wondering: where do I even begin with dating? I’m not very active on social media, I don’t have Instagram, and I don’t use dating apps. I also never really had a “dating phase,” so I feel very behind compared to other people my age.

How do you actually start meeting men and dating when you’ve never really done it before?