If you want to improve your social life, you need to be able to open up to people. After all, getting to know someone who doesn’t tell you anything about himself and establish contact with him is brutal. But taking the floor and giving out personal information can be difficult while remaining yourself. Here are some ways to stop being a closed person and start making meaningful connections.
10 ways on how to open up and make meaningful connections
1. Determine why it is difficult for you to open
First, you need to reflect on why you are a closed person. The reason may be a lack of communication experience or social awkwardness. Sometimes, people shut down after someone close to them has undermined their trust in the past. Realizing what is behind your closeness is essential to beginning to understand the root of the problem and changing your thinking and behavior.
2. Start with the people you know
It’s better to start opening up to those you know and can trust at least a little. It can be your friends, family, and girlfriend. Start telling them more about yourself than usual. You can express your feelings if you’ve never done this before or give out a harmless secret to help you feel closer to another person. This will help you get used to the idea that opening up to others is not as scary as it seems at first glance.
3. Ask others about their lives
Start asking other people about their lives to learn from their openness. Socializing is a great experience and a way to learn some valuable habits. Observe when a person seems open and how he behaves in these situations, and then try to do the same as him.
4. Open up when it’s appropriate
Remember the relevance if you’re starting to open up to other people. It is not always necessary to talk about explicit and personal things. You don’t need to bring up such topics unless the conversation goes in that direction.Visit. A F R I N I K . C O M . For the full article. However, you need to be prepared to answer other people’s questions if they want to ask them. You should also practice empathy more often. If someone is going through difficult times, try to understand and support them. You usually have to open up and discuss your experiences to do this.
5. Work on communication skills
Communication skills are one of the leading social factors influencing how well you conduct conversations and make friends. You must train yourself to express your thoughts competently and succinctly and to tell a story clearly and consistently. You also need to work on maintaining eye contact so that you and others can talk comfortably.
6. Make yourself believe that others are interested in you
Closed people often think no one is interested in their lives, so they prefer to remain silent. This belief may result from low self-esteem or a feeling that you have achieved nothing meaningful. Whatever your life, there will be those who want to know about it. It’s important to convince yourself that many people care about your stories. This thought will help to cope with social anxiety and start talking to more people than before.
7. Take your time — give yourself time to get used to it
Becoming open cannot be fast, so you need time to get used to a new way of thinking. Take your time: if you’re uncomfortable opening up to strangers, don’t torture yourself. It will be much better when you get down to it, having learned to have deeper conversations with those who inspire trust. Patience is another factor that should come into play when getting rid of closeness. Don’t get upset if progress doesn’t come immediately — continue to be persistent and slow, but indeed, move towards your goal.
8. Look for like-minded people
It’s much easier to open up to people who understand you, so it’s worth looking for like-minded people. You can start talking to people on forums dedicated to topics that interest you or attend events where you can chat about something specific, such as photography or painting. Look for clubs and groups centered on your interests and actively participate in them so you can practice opening up to others and making new friends.
9. Practice talking about yourself
One of the reasons why it’s difficult for you to open up to people may be that you don’t like the idea of talking about yourself. If so, work on this issue first. Practice talking about yourself in front of a mirror or with friends. Make a list of things that are worth mentioning. These can be your strengths, achievements, pleasant moments from the past, or hobbies that deserve other people’s attention.
10. Work on self-acceptance
You can’t open up to others if you don’t accept yourself. Stop being ashamed of who you are. Look at your weaknesses and strengths, acknowledge them, and know you can change what you don’t like. Don’t view weaknesses as something to feel guilty about—realize they’re just little things that must be worked on to improve. Once you start accepting your true self, it will be easier to open up to others.
