Perfecting the Chit-Chat

I'm probably not the only one out there who thinks chit-chats are not very authentic. Walking past someone, hoping-to-god they don't see you, then locking eyes with them, smiling a fake smile, and saying "Hey, how are you?" while quickly speeding up your pace, not expecting a response, not quite responding to their response, grunting and smiling while saying "see ya around," is not a great way to really, truly start up a conversation with a friend OR an acquaintence.

Instead of doing what I normally do in those situations, I tried a new approach - I wouldn't call this the more normal approach, but maybe the old-fashioned one. Today, with so many people on the go or with their eyes locked onto their cell phones, it's hard to strike up a conversation but I did it anyway. I DID IT!

In the break room at work, I went to get a cup of water. This girl I used to work with at the newspaper was sitting there, as she usually does, reading or writing or something I didn't pay particular attention to. I said "Hey ____, Have you talked to ____?" Then I got the blank stare.
"About her internship, you mean?"
"No, about the magazine article she is writing..." I said (surely with some weird-ass look on my face).
"OH!!! Yeah!!!..."

And then we proceeded to converse about things girls who don't really know each other on a personal level converse about. Having another acquaintance in common helped, even though to be completely honest, I don't really know the girl who I mentioned. Usually, I would have just walked in, poured some water into my bottle and left without even making any eye contact. YAY ME!!

Then, later at our workshop, one of my supervisors said "how many of you are graduating this year?" And I raised my enthusiastic hand high. Instead of just smiling and half-raising my hand, I spoke like a true extrovert! "I got my cap and gown today!"

And that struck up a conversation amongst us graduating people!! Awwww community!

I know this all seems really miniscule but in the past, I would avoid situations where I would have to talk to people I didn't know under the assumption that I wouldn't like them. But really why do I do this? Because I'm afraid of being rejected? God knows I'm not shy.... I used to be, but now I embarrass myself so much, the shy sort of slipped right off me.

I'm trying. Someday, I will perfect the chit-chat...