Hi,

So I am really, really bad a small talk, which makes it hard for me to get to know new people. I have been learning from the tips here and finally got to put them to use today when I met someone at my kids activities (a parent obviously haha). I have a total friend crush as this person appears to have similar interests as me and definitely seems like someone I would like to know, but I feel like I come off as really boring. We had one awkward silence, and luckily they were able to fill the space with no help from me haha. I used tips from here like asking open ended questions, complimenting them, but when I tried to think of something to say to fill the silence I drew a complete blank. Sometimes I feel like I don't have a lot of interesting things to add to conversations. I was able to keep the conversation going, but I would like to learn to bridge the gap between boring, obvious statements and awkward silence to actually getting to know someone. Sometimes I think I say stupid boring things just to fill the silence.