<human>: I was browsing the front page earlier, read the article written in regards to the over used "girls only want assholes/badasses" statement, which I'll give credit, isn't true.  It FEELS true lots of the time, especially when I'm on shit end of the stick, but I can understand that (in my case) a girl would much rather date a more confident guy.  

My question to you guys/girls out there, is how does one become confident?  I'm average looking, have lead a fairly sheltered life, haven't really experienced many fun and exciting things in life and my hobbies are generally things like reading or video games, or stuff like that.
What do I do when I don't have a lot of super awesome experiences to share, when doing something as simple as rollerblading or skating is a new experience for me?  I've tried dating sites, blind dates with friends, bars, clubs, etc.  But being fairly shy, and anti-social bars and clubs just really do not work for my, I don't feel comfortable unless I'm with a group of friends.  Dating sites (generally) are full of nothing but rabble, and I'd at least like to think my standards are higher then that, plus the several bad experiences I've had meeting girls on Plenty of Fish REALLY don't help.
I'm more then willing to go out and try new things and have experiences that I normally wouldn't have done a year ago, but living in a semi smallish city in the middle of Alberta, it really doesn't give me many options to go out and try new things.  Unless I am missing something entirely.  

So

Summarize the given text in a few sentences.
<bot>: How does one become more confident, and what are things you guys/girls have done in the past to get over crippling self doubt/loathing/fear?