Let's be honest... do many of us just..kind of..suck?

I'm not sure if I follow - mostly because I lack confidence in my own ability to think clearly at the moment.

OP said:

...But these are things I can improve and everyone else in a similar situation can improve. We've just got to start practicing even though that means we will almost certainly stumble and embarrass ourselves many times along the way. Most people work out their awkwardness and figure themselves out in their teenage years... I guess I'll have to do this as a twenty year old.

and then...

Again, I think a lot of people on here genuinely have AvPD/social phobia, but I get the feeling many are like at my stage. Until today, I confidently believed that I have AvPD. But I think I was just #######4 myself to avoid the real conclusion: I just suck at the things I avoid, which is why I avoid them. I think this (accurate, I now think) view of myself is healthier long term.

So you're saying; you suck because you avoid, and you avoid because you suck. Ergo, error: circular logic detected. So if you learn not to suck, you will consequently learn not to avoid?

If so, I agree. There is still the nervous routine of avoidance itself, which might linger even after the learning of how not to suck, however.

I personally suck so badly that it'll take years to unlearn it. After the initial foray through the superficial presentations, I say such absurd nonsense that it even hurts my head to think about it. Getting over that nervous routine of freaking out after doing/saying something ridiculous is hard. I usually want to cut off contact with the other person, even if they seem not to mind me - or even understand me and want to help. Self-destructive tendencies at their finest.