How to Talk to Strangers: Learn How to Overcome Shyness, Social Anxiety, and Low Self-Confidence and Be Able to Chat to Anyone

By Amanda M. Myers

Introducing new methods to help you banish anxiety and strike up a conversation with anyone, even if you’ve suffered from shyness your entire life.

You don’t have to spend your entire life hiding in the shadows. You can learn to unleash your inner social butterfly with the help of the advice and methods found in this book.

A brand new, social you is just a few page turns away.

How to Talk to Strangers examines the root causes of shyness and social anxiety while providing solutions to help you overcome. It also presents topics to aid you when striking up a conversation.

In addition, you’ll also discover:

Why it’s important to know how to talk to strangers
How social anxiety and shyness inhibit your life
What it takes to build confidence in yourself
The basics of small talk, including topics
The best way to present yourself to make others like you
And much, much more!

Get rid of that self doubt and live a full life. Friendship with other humans is one of the most precious gifts we can receive.

Learn how to open the door to others and stop missing out. Click “add to cart” to improve your social skills and gain the confidence to talk to anyone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amanda M. Myers
• Release date: Dec 7, 2019

Book preview

Introduction

The weather is nice today, isn’t it? The question sits heavy in the air between you and the stranger that just sat down beside you. You are on the 6:30 a.m. bus route, and you notice that hardly anyone, at least from your experience, speaks to anyone else during the morning commute. This bus is full of people getting off and on at every stop, yet everyone keeps to themselves. There are people gazing out of the window and listening to the fuzzy bus radio, some listening to what is playing through their headphones. There are people who are reading the news either via their newspaper or via their phone. There are those that are dozing off, playing portable video games, reading books, and watching television on their tablets. One thing is constant among the demographic of those riding the bus this morning: there is silence. Aside from the in-and-out radio, the sloshy opening of the bus doors, and the frequent screech of brakes, there is silence. No one speaks a word.

But this particular person who just got on the bus and chose to sit right next to you decided to ask you a question as if she didn’t get the email sent out this morning the rest of the occupants had gotten about the no-talking rule. It catches you so off guard that you are slow to respond — or is it that you do not want to respond? You are not sure, but one thing you are sure of is that the words are just not there. Between your brain, the back of your throat, and the cusp of your lips, the words are nowhere to be found.

For a while, you sit there, the tense air between you two. You both sitting next to each other, both moving around at the whims of the bus. There was not a word between you two, and the silence is almost crippling. But as you sit there, deciding what you will do, you think to yourself, Yes, the weather is nice.

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Weddings, business meetings, grocery stores, theme parks, orientations, hotel lobbies, the DMV, your office at work, restaurants, movie theaters — each one of these places shares one thing in common. In these spaces, some public and some private, you will potentially have conversations. Sure, you may have conversations with family or friends, but you may also have conversations with strangers as well, regardless of whether you choose to or not.

While out in public, most people remain cordial in proper greetings — your hellos, your how do you dos, your goodbyes, your farewells, as well as with manners, your welcomes and thank yous. But when it comes down to the idea of an actual, full-fledged conversation, typically, the idea of speaking to a stranger in public is a taboo one. Some people love speaking to strangers and do so any chance they get. Inversely, some people dread the thought. What exactly is the difference?

Those who love to speak to strangers recognize that they have so many things to attain by speaking with strangers. They try to approach their life in an adventurous manner, learning all that they can from the things around them, some of those things being the very strangers they encounter on a daily basis. They could learn something new and hear stories from a perspective entirely new to them. They may be recommended to go eat at a restaurant they have never heard of before and probably would not have heard of if it were not for that conversation. People who enjoy conversing with strangers are those who are always outwardly seeking knowledge and see these situations as just another opportunity to do so.

On the other hand, those who tend to avoid speaking with strangers do so because the idea of it frightens them. Sometimes, those who tend to avoid speaking with strangers do so at all cost, because they are so frightened that they cannot even function in a conversation properly with a stranger. It is not because they do not enjoy seeking out knowledge, being adventurous, or creating new memories. Rather, it is just that being afraid of speaking to someone new outweighs the prospect of learning something new. Perhaps they might not like small talk, or they just are not a people person. Whatever the reason may be, people who often do not like to speak to strangers often wish that they were able to do so.

In the upcoming chapters of this book, we will discuss why it is often so hard to reach out to those unknown to us and begin conversations, which, you will learn, could be because of many reasons. In the first few chapters, you will learn a bit about why strangers are so strange to us. In the chapters after that, you will learn about some of the mental challenges you may encounter when attempting to speak with a person you are totally unfamiliar with. In the chapters following, you will learn how to begin and maintain your first conversations, as well as employ various ways methods to ensure strangers take an immediate liking to you. In the final chapter, you will learn how to take these introductory friends and contacts and make long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with the person you once considered to be a stranger.

Chapter 1:

What Makes a Stranger Strange? What Makes You Strange?

Every day of your life, you encounter a number of people you have never seen before and will probably never see again. You come into contact with so many unfamiliar faces in a day, most of the time you do not even realize it. You could see someone you do not recognize while walking down the sidewalk, while in line at the movie theater, or even while sitting on the side of someone on the bus. While shopping for groceries down the canned-food aisle, you may see another person browsing the same selection, trying to decide between this brand or that to pick up for