How can I change despite my upbringing?

Here’s a long post:

I’m a 27 year old male and while I do now have somewhat of a social life, I feel like there are things that I am longing to pursue.

Growing up, I was shy and awkward. My mothers side of the family were toxic and we had to limit our time with them. This got worse in 2015, when they decided to cut out off because we went to our moms second cousins house in India. My moms cousins and their families are the only relatives that I can talk to.

Even with my dads side, we are close, but I never felt like it. Maybe it’s because they are older than me.

Growing up in middle school, I only had two close friends, but after that we gone our separate ways. High school was the worse. I didn’t really had any friends and was socially awkward to the point where I didn’t really want to socialize with anyone.

After high school I did nursing, but that was a low point in my life. I failed my clincial and didn’t make any friends there.

After that I decided to do social work and that’s when I noticed some positive changes. I reconnected with a old high school classmate and we became really close friends. We played basketball a lot during COVID and I reconnected with two other classmates whom I became closer to. My friend would invite me to spend time with his family and his sister would add me to a group chat for hangouts.

I also made some good friends from my warehouse job and even made a close friend from uni.

Now I will be doing my masters of social work and I want to know how I can make new connections.

Despite these changes, I am still jealous and envious of others. I see them with good cousins and friends.