Dipping my toes in the water

I'll put this plainly. I'm a 25 year old virgin (kind of, there's been heavy petting, but no actual sex) because I was in a long term relationship with someone who is asexual for most of my early twenties. Now I've been single for almost a year, and while sex isn't my first priority, self discovery most certainly is, and the BDSM world is one that has intrigued me for a long LONG time. I've done lots of reading, but if you couldn't tell by my username, I'm extremely shy and reserved, so getting my foot in the metaphorical door isn't something I really know how to do, I was hoping I might get some advice on how to go about dipping my toes in the water, or maybe be willing to share the story of how they did it themselves? I don't know if I'm even posting correctly, so I'm sorry if I'm breaking community rules in any way, I just... don't know what to do first