I myself got a nice ego blast the other day, in a comment nonetheless.
"You, are not a shy guy, you only, act shy"
I've been going over this thread over and over in my head. I have the desire to socialize now, I did before, but I never USED it.
You cannot acquire the desire to socialize, there is no meaning behind DESIRE. Desire is something instilled, you cannot have it, or take it, or want it. But you can miss it, you can need it, and you can feel it.
People telling you won't help, you have to realize that you have potential, you have to stop making excuses, and above all you need to get your ass kicked. Never will anybody tell you to do something, unless they care for you. Nobody will bust down your door when your being a pathetic old man and tell you your being pathetic.
Society is not truly built about cooperation, it sure is helpful, cooperation, but it doesn't work as a society. You have to realize this, as well as the other extreme of doing it all on your own, if you do it all on your own, you WILL BECOME GREEDY, and as yoda knows greed is the path to the dark side.
My advice to you is:
Stop waiting for help, nobody will give it to you freely. stop shunning personality, where would we be without it?