Were I to be brutally honest with myself, I'd have to admit that, could I afford it, some form of counselling would be necessary.
There are too many things I struggle with that I just can;t get past by myself.
Whilst none of these affect my day to day life, they do have a large impact on my social happiness.

I keep feeling lonely, yet, I'm terrified of actually approaching anyone I find sufficiently interesting. Very few of my friends live near by, so my social life is almost dead. People have told me I should go out and meet more people but even this engenders some sort of fear in me. It's not so much that I'm afraid of people as that I find it hard to believe people I don't know, or that even many of the ones I do would wish to spend time with me. Likewise I find it hard to believe anyone would be interested in me to the extent that I'd like them to.
In addition to this, I've been single for so long now that I have no idea what I'd do in a relationship and am probably equally scared of the chance of someone actually being interested.

I just don;t really know what to do. All the suggestions people make simple make me more afraid/neurotic.