Get over my shyness and get a social life

So it wasn’t anything too exciting, and I didn’t initiate it, but at least I was off the couch. I went to a birthday party for a co-worker’s wife. It was all people from work and their spouses, so I new almost everyone. Still, after a while I ran out of things to say and ended up just standing around listening to conversations I wasn’t really interested in. I left fairly early. Can’t say it was a huge success, but it was something.

Really, it’s just time. I’ve been spending too much time alone for too long. Usually I don’t mind being alone, but the problem is, if you live this way, when you don’t want to be alone, there’s no one to call. So this is going to take effort, especially living where I do. AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! Why is this so intimidating?