I recently attended a book signing and was pleasantly surprised when a woman sat beside me and introduced herself before she even put her bag down. I enjoy striking up conversations with unfamiliar people, but not everyone is comfortable doing this. Hesitation to start a conversation usually prevents it from happening.
My dad strikes up conversations all the time; he will talk to anyone about anything, and he doesn’t care how much or how little he knows about the subject. He doesn’t wait until he gets to the coffee shop either. In fact, he walks to Starbucks once a week, stopping to talk with everyone who passes him by.
I talked with my dad after the book signing about the ease in which he strikes up conversations (caffeinated or not), and he didn’t know how to respond to my question:
Why is easy for you to strike up conversations with unfamiliar people?
I soon learned that my dad has never pondered this question before. And that is exactly why he talks to everyone. He couldn’t imagine people shying away, not being interested in what he had to say. Over thinking can foster self-doubt, and self-doubt is not conducive to striking up conversation. Most people doubt themselves from time to time, but not my dad when it comes to conversation. If I can strike up 1 conversation for every 2 that he does, I’ll be doing just fine.
I recently attended a book signing and was pleasantly surprised when a woman sat beside me and introduced herself before she even put her bag down. I enjoy striking up conversations with unfamiliar people, but not everyone is comfortable doing this. Hesitation to start a conversation usually prevents it from happening.
My dad strikes up conversations all the time; he will talk to anyone about anything, and he doesn’t care how much or how little he knows about the subject. He doesn’t wait until he gets to the coffee shop either. In fact, he walks to Starbucks once a week, stopping to talk with everyone who passes him by.
I talked with my dad after the book signing about the ease in which he strikes up conversations (caffeinated or not), and he didn’t know how to respond to my question:
I soon learned that my dad has never pondered this question before. And that is exactly why he talks to everyone. He couldn’t imagine people shying away, not being interested in what he had to say. Over thinking can foster self-doubt, and self-doubt is not conducive to striking up conversation. Most people doubt themselves from time to time, but not my dad when it comes to conversation. If I can strike up 1 conversation for every 2 that he does, I’ll be doing just fine.