I'm 24 years old and have never dated before in any capacity. I'm very shy and struggle with anxiety, but I have tried flirting with guys before. The problem I keep running into is that every time I think I've found a guy who's genuinely interested in me and who I have ongoing conversations/flirtations with, it always ends up that he's been leading me on. Usually I just end up assuming that I misinterpreted things and he wasn't actually flirting, but the last time this happened a couple of my friends had specifically commented on the fact that the guy seemed very interested in me, and then barely a month later I found out he was in a serious relationship with someone else.

The fact that I've been led on so consistently and already struggle with anxiety means that I now find it difficult to trust guys enough to even flirt with them. This is only made worse by the fact that my anxiety about inexperience is only getting progressively worse as time goes on. How do I trust that guys aren't going to continue playing with my feelings? And how do I trust that I'm not going to be rejected for my inexperience?