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Originally Posted by Sunshine82  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!  |
There is a book out there called "Always Talk To Strangers"
Amazon.com: Always Talk to Strangers: 3 Simple Steps to Finding the Love of Your Life (9780399530661): David Wygant, Bryan Swerling: Books
It's a dating/"find the love of your life" kind of book. The benefit that I got, however, was that I opened up a lot socially.
I was already definitely presentable to friends' girlfriends/families/etc., and I had many diverse & interesting friendships. Still, I felt like...well, if you dropped me in a city where I didn't know anybody and gave me 50cents, would I be able to survive? I'd heard of such tasks being given to people as a challenge to grow.
I read this book as I stayed in a city for one month, on assignment - and knew nobody. I made it my week-end practice to walk around town and talk to as many people as I could. Naturally most of the people I approached were women but I found myself hanging with couples, dudes, even people at the security desk & opening up a good conversation with them.
Easy practice is to have a 30-second conversation with a supermarket check-out register person.
Moderate practice is to have a 3-minute conversation with a total stranger in a public park on a Saturday.
Challenging practice is to go to a party where you know nobody, and stay there for 3 hours striking up conversations with random people.
Socializing is like a muscle - the more you use it, the stronger (and more fun) it gets.
I've done the know-nobody party-crashing several times btw...I'd feel such a high after I left, because I went in with nothing and came out with at least a bunch of great conversations. It's an accomplishment in a way.
Hope this helps...