Right now my primary problem is being social. I've spent my whole life not going out and doing rather anti-social things (like parkour, hiking etc.). I want more friends, acquaintances/whatever, so I can be invited to parties or hold my own and have people to invite. End goal is having a fulfilling life with women around to date. I know where to point the ship, not how to get there. I'd appreciate some advice.

Logistics:

-28 years old male.

-Live in a small rural Canadian village of 2,000. One bar in town, nothing else to do.

-Small city of 40,000 roughly 30 minutes drive away.

-Large city of 130,000 roughly 1.5 hour drive away.

-Have a car.

-Have some contacts from martial arts class, but no friends I hangout with outside of martial arts. All except one person has kids/family already and much older than I am.

-Already lift at home, no gym membership yet but considering for after COVID lockdown. I don't think this is a way to meet people though is it? Aren't we all just focused on our workout?

COVID lockdown aside when things open up again after Christmas I KNOW I need to get out and meet people. I'm not sure where to start or how to overcome the fear with the ideas I have and actually go do them.

Ideas:

-Go to the village bar and become a regular, slowly get to know everyone there and build this as a home base.

-Go to the village coffee shop and become a regular. Again a home base thing so when I do meet women I can take them out. Don't expect to meet many people my age in this village.

-Take up bouldering, frisbee, and/or volleyball (as the year progresses) in the city over if they have these things.

-After gaining confidence doing the above start going to events in the small city over (live music, bars, art walks, whatever) to meet women.

Concerns:

-I don't drink alcohol and have spent zero time in bars. What do people typically talk about or do at bars? (not clubs, clubs are for dancing I know that much). What's a good strategy to not go in and be a loner drinking in the corner? (I have zero friends to invite so I'm going in single).

-When I meet people I find interesting, how do I ask them to do other activities? Can I just invite people over for a drink? (I've got no TV to watch a game on for eg., but have a firepit out back). I get the feeling I'm too boring, not sure if I am boring or if that's a mental block. I'd like some ideas or examples of what other people have done in this situation.

I've literally got no experience with this. All of my friends in the past were situational based, we just ended up doing the same things (parkour, video games, same school, same events).

The end goal is to have a fulfilling life with women around for dating. I need friends, things to do, and social proof in order to get to the women/dating part. And if all else fails at least I'll have cool people to spend time with.