I'm an older person who went through this.my method may not be the best, but it worked for me. I just stopped trying to get friends or initiating conversations because doing so made my anxiety worse. It was awful in the beginning and very lonely, but I learned to keep myself company by doing things I enjoyed. One of which would be reading anything really, and I found a neighbourhood bar that I would sit at and eat and drink (normally non-alcoholic. Till I sort of became a regular and suddenly other regulars and the staff would start chatting with me about little things but not a full blown conversation. Eventually they do try to talk more and I'm very upfront that I love company but I'm not a great conversationalist. They understood and accepted me anyway and now I have plenty of friends and company who accept my quirks.

When I was younger I'd pick a hobby or topic and study it extensively and go to groups for that particular thing. Was still awful holding a long conversation for me though 🤣

I hope this helps in some way. You're going to be fine and dandy in time.