How should I proceed now? Is there hope?

[Stubborn-Male]

NCU,
you have my sincere sympathy with you. It is difficult to cope with a WAS, I can only say it gets better.
GAL is good, if you can do it. I found that I needed time to get my feelings in order first and I found it difficult to talk to other people naturally. Deciding what you want is the hardest part; I find that for all my life I have been putting partners first, without realising what my needs were. I am in the process of deciding what I want, you will have to decide soon what it is that makes you happy.