Have you ever been in situations where you try to talk to someone and nothing comes out? Has it always been a struggle for you to make friends? Do you stay in this bubble where nothing and nobody can get to you? Well, let me tell you, you are definitely socially awkward.
According to the Urban Dictionary, being socially awkward means "an individual excessively afraid of social interaction due to some form of peer rejection or personal choice." This definition described me this whole weekend. I was invited to a family reunion from my boyfriend's mother. Let me tell you, I knew absolutely no one there so, me being the person I was tried super hard to fit inside my shell where I would not talk to anyone. It was kind of hard to do because my boyfriend kept trying to get me to be social, but it was difficult. Sometimes, I feel that being socially awkward is a disease because the feeling keeps you closed off from trying to talk to people. The feeling does not help you build relationships or make your friends.
The best way to overcome this is to build up confidence so that we socially awkward (let's call it SA) people can get over this "disease." So, to build our confidence, we need to get out of our comfort zone. How about joining an activity that requires us talking to people? A game of UNO can help. Even if we do not win, we can still talk to people. We can also lean towards the athletic style of things like basketball or volleyball. When I was at the reunion, I played a game of volleyball even though I am totally not athletic. The game helped because I got to learn from people and build trust.
Another way that the reunion helped increase my social skills was when we played a game where someone would put a sticker on our back and we had to guess what was on the sticker. It was a game called famous pairs. For example, I was Beyonce, but I had to ask questions to find out I was her. When I did find out, I would have to go find my pair which was Jay-Z. My Jay-Z found me and it was a really nice girl. We instantly became friends and exchanged Facebook names. The game actually helped me interact because I got to talk to people and interact. It was an accomplishment from where I was at the beginning.
It may be hard and trying at first to interact with others, but once you get over the hill that is the awkwardness, it will make you feel great. When you ever feel that social awkwardness come back, just remember the feeling you had when you made your first friend or when you participated in a fun activity with others. I realized that being an SA is not a disease. It is easy to overcome it. We just have to try.
