First, I want to thank Bacon King for the original idea and thread.
Recently I have been reflecting on my own issues with social interaction, what's worked for me and what hasn't worked, and what my strengths are. I have realized that I sell myself short on a lot of things, which has made social isolation a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Having said that, I have learned that there's never a guarantee of a particular outcome in any given social situation-and you know what? That's the beauty of interacting with other people. Life would be boring and unfulfilling if everything happened in a predictable, "safe" way. Embrace the possibility of failure, as well as the possibility of success, and you have a higher success rate in social life than simply sitting at home with no one to talk to but yourself.
Of course, "success" and "failure" are to a great degree, in the eye of the beholder; what is successful for me will look different from Bacon King's definition of a good social life, to some extent. But though details differ, the concepts and themes are the same: learning specific social skills to add to your repertoire, when paired with the uniqueness of you as an individual, will allow you to have that much more of an impact when interacting with others.
So now, off my soapbox-what are some tips or helpful guidelines for social behavior that you can share with the rest of the forum? ("You" being everyone!
) Any testimonies/success stories that you want to share?
Thanks in advance!
