-Question submitted by Anonymous

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Dannielle Says: 

TV. People talk about TV.

I’m serious, my dad the other day admitted he’s been feeling super left out because all anyone talks about is TV and he can’t figure out how to change the channel from golf. Especially now that we have Netflix and Hulu and no one has any money to go out and do anything, everyone is watching TV. Start there ‘do you watch Modern Family / 24 / Friday Night Lights / PRETTY LITTLE LIARS’ …they’ll either say ‘yes! i looove that show’ or ‘noo but i keep hearing people talk about it’ 

Another tip: People love to talk about themselves. Ask questions. Where are you from, Where do you go to school, What’s your major, What do you do, How do you know MUTUAL FRIEND, What kind of music are you into, Do you understand why BLANK is so expensive because I don’t, Have you always lived in PLACE, How long have you been doing ACTIVITY… These are all questions that lead to more questions and TRUST ME, your conversation will be easy as pie. I used to be AWFUL at talking to people, but people love to talk about themselves and they love to have things in common with others. Ask a question, answer your own question right after and compliment them on something they’re wearing.

Kristin Says:

ALWAYS COMPLIMENT THEM ON SOMETHING THEY ARE WEARING.

Let me tell you something about yourself: you are a lot like me, and this is literally a problem that exists mostly in your brain-parts. Solution: have a beer.

JUST KIDDING.

Dannielle just gave you a hundred awesome ways to help kickstart a conversation, and I approve of them all, so you have those as a means of aiding you in the next social gathering. The other thing you need to do, though, is work on not making yourself feel like a total goon-wad. Think about the questions and conversations that you have had with other people, where they ask you what you do and you tell them and then you find out you both had math class with Mr. Hoopendraggin, etcetera. Did you think that they were boring, or that they were annoying? Probably not. Neither, my dear, are you.

There will always be some people who don’t ease into conversation with you - and that has nothing to do with YOU, it’s just that sometimes person A doesn’t have as much to talk about with person B as they do with person C. It takes at least two humans to make a conversation go well or fizzle out - so if you feel like something’s fizzlin’, just remember that it isn’t your fault. Smile politely and go grab another Capri Sun from the cooler.

Most importantly: You gotta love you first. Everything else will follow.