I used to dread social interactions.
Not just the big ones — like job interviews or dates — but the everyday stuff. Ordering coffee. Small talk with coworkers. Bumping into an old classmate at the grocery store.
My brain would either go totally blank or launch into overdrive: "Do I sound weird?" "Why did I say that?" "Abort the conversation. ABORT."
I'd rehearse basic phrases like "How's your day going?" in my head 5 times before actually saying them… and even then, it came out robotic.
Some people fear public speaking. I feared casual chit-chat.
I Thought Something Was Wrong With Me
I assumed I just wasn't a "people person." That I was shy, awkward, anxious — maybe even socially broken.
I remember one night vividly.
I was at a friend's birthday dinner. Everyone else was laughing, telling stories, vibing. And I was sitting there, silently sipping my drink, rehearsing ways to leave early without looking rude.
That night, I googled, "How to not be awkward in conversations."
The advice was either:
- "Just be confident."
- "Fake it till you make it."
- Or some clinical script that felt like preparing for a job interview.
None of it worked for someone whose brain froze the second the spotlight turned on them.
Then I Found Something That Actually Helped
It wasn't a magic pill. It wasn't a TED Talk. It wasn't becoming an extrovert.
That shift changed everything.
When I stopped trying to perform and started being curious… people responded differently. Conversations flowed. Awkwardness faded. I felt human again.
From there, I built out a little toolkit for myself — real-world strategies, little scripts, backup rescue lines — and started testing them. And slowly but surely, things changed.
