I am introvert by nature or the other way i use to say it, “I don’t like people”. It use to be draining for me to talk to people except for my inner circle of friends I’ve had forever and family.
But, I had to step out of my comfort zone.
I just read a blog post about Conversational Skills Essentials.
It was very timely. Yesterday I was at the bar at the Embassy Suites in Savannah during happy hour and I overheard a couple speaking Spanish. I am learning Spanish now using DuoLingo and I struck up a conversation with them - in English.
They were from Puerto Rico. We talked for about three hours. This is completely new for me. I just learned how to strike up a conversation with people I don’t know within the past couple of years. The “safe” subjects to talk about with people you don’t know are usually sports, weather and hobbies.
I don’t watch sports. Talking about the weather is cliche and before two months ago, I didn’t have any interesting hobbies.
It was a very natural conversation and I am glad I put myself out there. They live close to Orlando and I hope I have the opportunity for us to meet again while we are there.
Being able to strike up a conversation is also important for my job. I work in consulting now coming from a software development background and I am always talking to customers. Almost everyone has interesting vacation stories to tell and I have a genuine interest in hearing people’s travel stories and most find our lifestyle interesting.
I also go out of my way to talk to our Uber drivers.
This is the couple I met.
