(and not the most important one)

I disagree. My sexuality is of the utmost importance to me, and has been for as far as I can think back. If there is one thing in the world that I really enjoy doing and that I'm really really good at, it's sex. Depriving myself of that is imho a form of self-harm. Consider that I actively rejected opportunities. It's not like I just stopped actively looking, which I had never done anyway. It's that I started to actively reject any opportunities I got, and simpy buried myself in my room most of the time. I wouldn't exactly call that a shift in priorities. It feels more like my life stalled.

I'd say try to be open to hooking up with women you feel something for, even if you don't feel that much.

That's the problem though. Even if I met any women, which I don't anymore, then I wouldn't feel anything. And even if I did, I'd be much too insecure - which is completely weird and atypical for me. I mean, there are people who rock insecurity like a pro because they're used to it (I'm half-joking of course, but there's something to it imho). I actually feel insecure about my new-found insecurity.

I dunno. Maybe this is the price I'm paying for never having had to make any effort to get laid. I also don't want to appear needy.

And also, these are different times than just five or ten years ago. These days, any attempt at approaching a woman may or may not end in a jail cell. We live in crazy times. The last two times I spoke to women in public at all was when I was offering them help, respectively, with getting their heavy luggage off the train (which they were struggling with). One of them instantly started shouting obscenities at me, the other one just held a taser in my face. Mind you, I just offered them help with their luggage, from several yards away. It was broad daylight on both occasions, with many people on those train platforms. That's where we are at, culturally. In this climate, trying to get laid as a 37 year-old unemployed male is not even worth a joke.