Image courtesy of https://unsplash.com/@purzlbaum
The Yaghan people of Tierra del Fuego — I love saying this country—have this long untranslatable, Mamihlapinatapai. Now this is what this word is all about. Two strangers meet and gain eye contact. Both are desperate to initiate a conversation, but The Owl of Minerva flies at dusk, so to speak, and they miss that opportunity. Tis a pity.
I spent my first five years of childhood in a sort of solitary confinement. These were the days before nurseries, and I spent most days playing in the back yard. To add to the problem, I attended four primary schools before high school. Naturally, I grew up with a painful shyness. As a result, I missed many opportunities in life.
When I was eighteen, I bought a book on shyness; it changed my life. Often shyness relates to not knowing what to say. I know people who have never read a book. Who spend their evening hours watching TV and wasting time on the cyber-hive playing video games and social networking. Then, when they meet people, they don’t have much to say. And to be honest, they can be extremely boring as they repeat the same old stuff.
Learn to read, there are many book-reading meetings online.
Learn to start conversations,
“I see you are reading a book, what’s it about?”
“That’s a nice camera, do you have a website where you post your images?”
“Is this your full-time job, or do you attend university?”
These are a few questions I ask, and I have had the most interesting conversations with passing strangers. Think of the various scenarios in which you can use conversation starters. Go on, bite the bullet.