Day 9: Skip the Small Talk and Just Talk

Not only am I not a huge fan of small talk, which may stem from the fact that I'm not very good at it, but I'm not entirely sure I understand it either. While I do 'get it' from the standpoint of being polite or as a way to fill awkward silences, I'm unsure why we need to turn to such contrived and superficial means of conversation to do so. We ask 'how are you' and 'how's you're day going' already knowing that the person is going to respond with any variation of 'Fine. Thanks. Yourself?' It's time to switch it up and open small talk back up to reality. Sometimes we aren't always 'good' and the weather really isn't worth discussing. I'm certainly not saying that we should all of a sudden start dropping our lives' stories (baby steps) on the stranger in the elevator while they're trapped with us for the next three floors, but trying to have a genuine conversation with strangers is often how some of the best friendships come about.