I have a family I need to support, and new technologies I want to learn. Despite my introversion, this provides all the 'motivation' I could ever need.
Realistically, I set up habits that make networking as easy as possible. Meetups, connections through friends, working in shared offices from time to time, mentoring, involving yourself in the local community and so on are all ways to easily build low pressure network connections. Focusing on the tech problems that you find challenging and let that be your motivation when talking to people.
It gets easier with practice. I had to start from scratch as well and found that I wasn't 'pushy' enough and definitely had to sell myself more. Hopefully you find people you like working with.
Realistically, I set up habits that make networking as easy as possible. Meetups, connections through friends, working in shared offices from time to time, mentoring, involving yourself in the local community and so on are all ways to easily build low pressure network connections. Focusing on the tech problems that you find challenging and let that be your motivation when talking to people.
It gets easier with practice. I had to start from scratch as well and found that I wasn't 'pushy' enough and definitely had to sell myself more. Hopefully you find people you like working with.