Help with gym anxiety/starting again?

This time last year I was regularly going to the gym 4-5x a week and had a good routine going, however due to exams earlier this year (around April/May), I fell out of the routine. I just want to feel as good as I did when I was going regularly again, as I feel like my anxiety and just self-image has gotten awful since stopping and there's a marked difference in when I was going vs. now. I have also gained some happy relationship weight since then!

The only problem is, I'm really battling with the anxiety of starting to go again. This is due to a few reasons: 1) It is my uni gym and its quite small, so its always busy and 2) due to the culture where I go I just feel an air of judgement if you aren't already fit and with a 'fit' body. I do struggle with anxiety, so this last bit is realistically just in my own head-- but it's hard to ignore!

I am also not as strong or fit as I was a year ago (if anything, I have regressed completely to when I started on my fitness journey last August) and I just feel demotivated and to be honest, embarrassed, to go back as I am not at the level I was before. I also feel like not being able to use the weights I used when I left off is so demoralising because the weights I started at was so small! But I have to remember it's relative to height, and being 5'3 makes a difference!(Correct me if I'm wrong!)

So I'm just coming here if anyone has any support or tips regarding gym anxiety and starting again (as in to start at weights/routines like when I stopped going vs going straight to my start weights?). Apologies if this isn't the right sub I just really like and relate to the community here <3 (edit to finish writing the post!)