How to be more open & flirt with men

LegacyUser

Hello, I'm looking for advice please. It's actually embarrassing. I'm a grown woman who's had relationships and flings in the past. I'm a friendly person and can chat away to people.

But after quite a long time being single (over 10 years) I think I have a problem with generally being open, flirting, displaying interest and picking up on things relating to meeting guys.
I really need advice regarding this. I feel like I was always a bit awkward with this and met most of my partners through pubs/clubs, so there was always drink involved.
I don't drink anymore.

What do some of you ladies do? For instance in a coffee shop, would you make eye contact, initiate contact with someone? If I see someone I like, I do the opposite. I just feel self conscious and I suppose if I was to do flirty eye contact, I'd just feel a bit 'exposed' and open to rejection.
Or if someone new is introduced in a friend group that you like the look of? Again I'd probably not do what I should.
I'm actually a very warm person but if I'm not ignoring someone I like, I'm talking to them in a robotic manner. I suppose the idea of 'rejection' is colouring my actions.

It's just embarrassing to admit that I never was au fait with this kind of thing. This is the one area of my life that I need to work on and one in which I'm sure I've sabotaged over the last few years.

I would really appreciate some advice and you can spell things out, if you like. I'm really that clueless!

eeguy

Tinder? Bumble?

LegacyUser

I've tried tinder in the past but really want to try real life, as I find online disappointing (regarding people's motives, etc)

Does anyone have any advice?

Plopsu

The more people you know, the more likely you are to met somebody. Join some groups or clubs for things that interest you and then you will meet others with similar interests in a non-relationship/pick-up context, so you can get to know them before anything goes further.