Sometimes it's like one step forward, two steps back. Effort doesn't always equal progress, sadly.
After being mostly a hermit for years with little to no social life, I started forcing myself to go to meetups, and had a good time, lots of friendly interactions, one g/f, one casual thing. But it didn't result in anything lasting, and now there are fewer meetups that interest me and I'm back to being a hermit again. I don't know if doing all of that really improved me and my social skills much if at all.
Ah well, I tried, I guess?