Anyone else regret not being more social as a teenager?

Creeping up on 25 and for the last several years, I’ve had a REALLY tough time getting over being an antisocial recluse in middle and high school. When all my friends were dating and going to parties and having those kinds of experiences, I was too shy and reserved to ever take any chances. Those teenage years came and went, and now I’m about to graduate college and officially enter the working world.

I’ve taken steps in college to be more outgoing and confident and while it has worked to an extent, it simply doesn’t feel the same. High school is such a unique moment in life because there’s so much raw innocence and freedom in a way. There isn’t money on the line like in college. You have more opportunities to socialize and make memories. Once that ends, everyone gets pigeon-holed into their respective crowds and nothing is ever truly the same.

It becomes exponentially more difficult to meet and maintain friends as an adult. Jobs consume most of our time. In my hometown specifically, most of my friends graduated high school and then never left. They form a close-knit clique that can be hard to break into if you weren’t really socially active during that time.

Anyone else have similar experiences and manage to form a more robust social circle in spite of it? If so, how? What advice could you give to someone like me?