i started cold approaching people and everybody recommends asking strangers for time/direction ect. but i wanted to know what would work for me, started out by just saying “hello” to people which got a little easier but i still cant seem to beat it. do i have to be doing this everyday for it to get easier for me to feel less nervous? start off with i have social anxiety and too shy around people sometimes. but i approached handful of people but lately dont have time to go out besides friday, saturday, sunday because im working overtime at my job. and i feel thats killing my progressive desensitization. because unfortunately i get nothing on those dating apps so i have to do it the old fashioned way. im guessing approaching 50 strangers in a day is a good start? i feel like i made some progress last week by asking some people for directions to whatever place
Carry a pack of Tic Tacs with you. Next time you meet a stranger, ask him/her if they want a Tic Tac. After they say yes or no, ask them where they're from. That can easily snowball into a healthy conversation. Tic Tacs are an easy ice breaker.
i want to try to avoid looking odd. im already having alot of negative experiences as it is everytime i try to greet someone they dont even make eye contact. had a woman tell me “why i kept staring” thats mainly because im looking, but hesistating to say something out of fear. at that point i was going to quit out of embarrassment but i toughed it out and kept going.
You won't make any problems go away if you still cower in fear. If you just expect people to go out of their way to say Hi, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. If you just stick to your anxiety, that's all you'll ever be. Your problems are only going to go away when you take action. Believe me, I suffer from social anxiety, so I know how difficult it is, but I believe in you, dude. Be a doer and not merely a hearer. That's the only way you will amount to anything in the social world.
i mean yeah i dont expect every single person to to be courteous back, but i feel this wasn’t a issue 20 years back pre social media and burying their faces in their cell phones. even places that are supposed to be social like universities nowadays nobody says nothing. and i made 0 friends being in my second semester. though im uncertain if people feel like they should act a certain way when they go to college.
