The optimist part of the incel would like to believe that his chronic emptiness will be ultimately productive by urging him to seek comfort and happiness in social situations in a way that solo hobbies can’t any longer. Sure, as of late, social interactions have gone wonderfully without any self-consciousness, and he’s sure that he’d thrive under any self-imposed challenges. The problem is that he’s not particularly motivated to seek these new risks, not out of fear but out of apathy. The problem before was that he envisioned the cons to be huge and numerous but the pros to be imaginary. All he’s done is get rid of the cons without having gotten to the core - convincing himself that there are people out there interested in deep, fulfilling relationships with him. The moment he does that, the pros will finally begin to outweigh the cons and he will begin to naturally talk to people. If he were to do that now, he’d still get in his own way by cutting conversation short, overthinking social cues, and keeping attention away from himself.