ToTaL LoLiGe said:
My grim realisation ws that my lack of confidence in social situations could lead to me becoming an unemployed 40 year old virgin. Now to bore you with the details, I'm 16 I've never had a girlfriend and I'm shy as shit. I can't talk to strangers, I know what I want to say but I just choke and can't get my words out.
I was in that situation when I was sixteen. Now I've had a couple of lengthy relationships and I get invited out to parties and shiz most weekends. It's just a question of working up the confidence to go talk to people.
I used to find that I'd sit with a group of people around me, silent, and I'd think of things to say but then talk myself out of saying them because I was afraid I'd say something stupid.
My advice is to just come out and say things. Even if what you're saying is actually kinda stupid, say it with confidence and you can at least have a good laugh about it. If it's controversial, you'll probably get a good discussion going.
My other advice is to
not worry about impressing people. I used to find it hard to talk to girls because I wanted everything I said to be witty. But the thing is,
no-one is smooth enough for everything they say to be like that. Every single person occasionally comes out with an embarrassing herp-derp moment. Laugh it off. The important thing is to keep the conversation going, keep it flowing - then you'll get plenty of opportunities to bring in interesting bits of info and jokes and anecdotes.
And then you'll begin finding the things you have in common with people.
And when that happens, you get more comfortable with them. And you move past the awkward stage and make friends. And the more you do it, the easier it gets. There'll come a point where you can bump into any stranger and get a conversation going.