Why am I like this?

[zimena]

Me and people I don’t know... we don’t get along.

I just feel so clumsy and awkward, and everything I say feels unkind and impolite and just plain wrong. I’m not an unkind and impolite person, but I feel like seem like one if I have to deal with unfamiliar people.

I don’t like feeling this way.

Comments

[nineveh_uk]

Bad luck :-( For me, "fake it til you make it" was very helpful in dealing with some social interactions I wasn't comfortable with. I don't have to handle something perfectly, I just have to pretend that I know what I am doing! Loads of people are awkward in these situations, so if you can put on handling it in the way you'd like to, whatever you feel like underneath, then you can find yourself with a running start. And eventually it becomes more genuine, you can handle it as yourself because you've practiced.

[borntobemybaby]

A trick I've always found when speaking to people I don't know - ask them an open-ended question that gets them talking about themselves. Other people, in general, like to talk about themselves so it takes the pressure off you and lets you relax a little.