That awkwardness is the discomfort you should be aiming to feel. It’s just like how when you’re losing weight you should try to be spending a lot of your time kinda hungry or how when you’re building muscle you should be aiming to be sore the morning after a workout. Awkwardness is like that for socializing. Low levels of fear are also totally fine.

If you’re looking to meet people your age and learn to interact with them look up meet ups for things you’re interested in, like board game groups, art in the park, etc. If you can’t think of anything go for improv. Improv is basically a targeted exercise in learning to feel comfortable in an awkward situation, though it’s definitely jumping into the deep end to learn to swim.