Yes! My mum taught me this trick when I was very young and it’s worked so well.
To build on the conversation theme, I’ve found that it takes less effort than you think to converse if you keep the focus on the other person. It just takes brief words of support, like cool/seriously?/that sounds great/awful/tiring/what have you. My go-to is “wild!” because it can be used positively or negatively and interpretation is up to them.
If they ask me about my own hobbies though, that strategy falls apart and I start breathlessly blabbing out WAY more details than I should. Haven’t figured out a solution to that yet. Easier not to volunteer anything personal and keep it on them.
I’ve found I’m quite good at socializing despite being on the spectrum. It was not a natural thing and was quite studied.
Writing that helped immensely with understanding body language and social cues was actually a bit of a con artists book: How to make people like you in 30 seconds.
It gave great insight into what I had a hard time understanding on my own: the social fabric explained.
As someone who constantly learns and tries to apply that knowledge, having all the social cues laid out in a way to practice on just about anyone was very eye opening and freeing.
Instead of avoiding eye contact, focus on the bridge of their nose.
They can’t tell you aren’t looking them in the eye.
Yes! My mum taught me this trick when I was very young and it’s worked so well.
To build on the conversation theme, I’ve found that it takes less effort than you think to converse if you keep the focus on the other person. It just takes brief words of support, like cool/seriously?/that sounds great/awful/tiring/what have you. My go-to is “wild!” because it can be used positively or negatively and interpretation is up to them.
If they ask me about my own hobbies though, that strategy falls apart and I start breathlessly blabbing out WAY more details than I should. Haven’t figured out a solution to that yet. Easier not to volunteer anything personal and keep it on them.
I’ve found I’m quite good at socializing despite being on the spectrum. It was not a natural thing and was quite studied.
Writing that helped immensely with understanding body language and social cues was actually a bit of a con artists book: How to make people like you in 30 seconds.
It gave great insight into what I had a hard time understanding on my own: the social fabric explained.
As someone who constantly learns and tries to apply that knowledge, having all the social cues laid out in a way to practice on just about anyone was very eye opening and freeing.