Do You Struggle Having Conversations With Strangers?

Making people open up can be a smiling walk in the park

3 min readFeb 22, 2022

Do you enjoy talking to strangers, or rather feel like an alien in the process? How many people you know are excited about small talk in the most awkward places?

I’m an introvert, which means social encounters drain my energy. I’m also a freelance writer, working from home. And since the pandemic, I haven’t been out too much.

Recently, I discovered I dread meeting people face to face. The thought of having to talk to people — as opposed to texting, emailing, or chatting — is giving me anxiety.

Enter three-year-old who wants to go out and meet the world. Like in really wanting to meet the world. The type of open-up-the-window-and-scream-for-all-the-children-in-the-neighborhood-to-come-over type of wanting to meet the world.

Needless to say, it rocked my world. And it made me think.

We tend to overthink conversations with strangers

Generally, we overthink anything that others might think about us.

But it’s one thing to worry about what others think of you, and a different thing to find it out, by interacting with others and watching their reactions.

The truth is we dread conversations with strangers because we focus on their potential to make us feel embarrassed or rejected.

How about if you start looking at conversations as an opportunity to access new ideas, perspectives, life stories, answers to your questions, and even personal growth?

Every person you meet knows something you don’t know.

There’s infinitely much more to gain from talking to a stranger than from not talking.

And once you start seeing these conversations as doors to opportunities, you’ll be excited to open them rather than wanting to close them.