ABSTRACT
On a scale of 1–10, where 1 is shy and 10 is confident, how do you feel about making use of your life experiences to add to the conversation with the following people:
just one friend?
a new friend of the opposite sex?
a mixed group of friends? new people in a social setting? colleagues in a workplace setting?
People sometimes worry about whether they are up to the task of having conversations. They doubt whether they will seem sufficiently ‘world-wise’ to be able to speak from experience on a topic, ‘well-versed’ enough to be able to offer useful opinions or interesting enough to add a bit of colour to the flow of the chat. This chapter examines ways in which you might start to recognise your value in social settings. The things you find out about yourself, your history and your interests can all feed into your conversation at some point. When we find we have something ‘in common’ with our conversation partners we feel a kind of link, or bond, that can increase the warmth of the conversation or become the start of a friendship, or build on an existing one.