Standing uncomfortably in the kitchen at his sister’s baby shower, Brandon tries to make conversation with his brother-in-law’s cousin.
“Did you hit traffic driving here today?” he asked her.
“I did,” she answered. “I came on Rt. 95, and traffic was OK since it’s Saturday. How about you?”
“Ah, well, I only live three streets over so it was a pretty easy trip for me today,” Brandon answered with a chuckle. He felt gratified by her slight laugh in response. As the natural pause in the conversation elongated, Brandon grasped for a new topic to continue the conversation. As he did so, his brother-in-law’s cousin suddenly said, “Excuse me,” and moved away.
Uncomfortable yet again, Brandon scanned the room to see who else he could try to talk with. “Geez, this is so much work. How do other people make it look so easy?” he wondered.
If you’ve found yourself in more than a few situations like Brandon’s, you are not alone. Many, many people struggle to make chitchat with people. There are 3 main reasons why some folks struggle more than others when it comes to chitchatting with someone you don’t know well.
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Hazel’s comment:
The thing which really struck me in this post was Jonice saying that almost all relationships start with chitchat otherwise known as small talk.
Some, of course, never progress beyond that so it’s wise to learn how to maintain this apparently trivial form.
Labels:
small_talk, relationships,
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