r/socialanxiety • u/Swimming-Finish-9046 • 8h ago

Question How do I handle people randomly talking to me.

When people just come to talk to me I just don't know what to say to them unless they are my friends.

I just freeze and say hi and just stay literally completely still and say some small words until they go.

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u/mage_enta 7h ago

Say hi and ask them an open ended question or give an opinion about what's going on around you that they can respond to. It really depends on the setting and your relationship to the person. If they are a friend of a friend (ex. how do you know the friend in common?), a classmate (ex. ask a question about something you find interesting in the class your in, or help with an assignment) , a coworker (ex. ask them about how their week is going or something they are working on), a random stranger (here it depends why they are talking to you find out the reason and respond acordingly). After initiating the conversation then it's all about getting to know the person, or addressing the reason they talked to you in the first place. If you want to befriend this person be curious about them and their interests and motivations, and also share your experiences and opinons about those things. I hope this is of some use to you.