Everything I Am Afraid Might Happen If I Ask New Acquaintances to Get Coffee
newyorker.com
newyorker.com
Got sad, considered changing careers and slowly started getting more frantic about seizing my Big Chance. In the process I discovered I'm unspeakably awkward and horrible at networking. Developed a dislike for great networkers being Machiavellian shits.
Didn't get my Big Chance.
Turned 35, had long since stopped counting birthdays, and then one day realised that imperceptibly something had changed.
I wasn't sad anymore. At least not noticably sadder than anybody else if I took the time to look. I'd come to terms with my crippling imposter syndrome, and was free of the quixotic trappings of my equally crippling Dunning Kruger. Read Jon Robson's psychopath test and decided I probably wasn't a sociopath either - I was just a bloke in his mid 30s.
Realised I should stop self diagnosing psychological conditions via the internet.
I have a great family, a good job, I wake up every morning and genuinely look forwards to spending my day doing what I do. I still harbour secret dreams of world domination, but they exist withing a framework of reassuringly tedious goals, like making sure I have enough clean pants and socks for the week.
Learned to work the washing machine. Still don't like inviting people to go for a coffee.
I'm a bad networker, as a software engineer you rarely have the incentive to improve. I've never had to look for a job... I just say yes when a good email comes in. Recently though I realized that I can only go so far the way I've been going. I've become noncontent with waiting for the right email to come in. So I started working on changing myself.
I think the first part of networking is to start before you need the benefits from it. The second is to be more concerned with what you can give rather than what you can get (it's just like Christmas!) and finally... and this sounds really basic. You actually have to go out and do things, and you actually have to talk to people (very hard to do if you're an introvert like myself).
2. Make sure you have a list of hobbies/interests you can relate through
3. Most importantly, be actually curious about the person (a smile helps). Everyone has amazing things to talk about, just get the person you're with to get there and do not keep the conversation focused on yourself
4. Before you ask for coffee, make sure you've had a nice enough and mutually engaging conversation. It naturally yields a better approval rate.
5. Whatever happens next is just fun and it is whatever is meant to happen. (It follows that this New Yorker article is funny in the way it's not relevant to improve one's coffee invitations success) so just loosen up and enjoy. Meeting new people is great fuel for a balanced life. It won't always be perfect, but it will often be fun.
Note I'm a developer too, but I personally find a good balance between nice people and coding necessary to feel content and happy.
This, is what gets me. It's stuff like this that makes me feel like the longer I stay in software the further detached from the general reality I will become. I love software, but I hate how much it drives me away from the rest of society.
Having to leave my job let me spend more time with a variety of people (lots of baristas, many of them are super interesting) helped me significantly.
>This, is what gets me. It's stuff like this that makes me feel like the longer I stay in software [...]
I can assure you that this is not the general job hunting scenario for software people. This may be the case for a particular engineer, or small class of highly-sought-after engineers, in a couple of very short-lived time periods of frothy hiring. The vast majority of us still have to get out there and pound the pavement like everyone else, and it's not overnight.
read this: "Design Disruptor" ~ https://thedesignteam.io/design-disruptor-b1c0c58d90b7
You know what your problem is? You've spent your whole life feeling sorry for yourself and you can't stop doing it because it feels so good.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop being a bad person.
It was a post about coming to terms with yourself, and getting on with life.
How's the saying go?
"In your twenties you worry what people think of you, in your thirties you stop caring, in your forties you realize no one spends any time thinking about you anyway."
Given that my 77 year old dad says the same, I may have hit the genetic lottery. I suspect he will just unexpectedly die one day while mowing the lawn, never having known what it is like to feel old.
Let 'em grow, man. Good enough for George Clooney, good enough for me.
(I started getting gray hairs at ~25)
1) I can't just eat shit and not get fat anymore. I made that mistake around 35, and it took a lot of hard work to reverse it.
2) Thining hair. Did you know that some people say that a "cure" for baldness might be worth more commercially than a cure for cancer? I don't feel that strongly about it, but it is kinda annoying.
Not much to complain about really.
So now I eat yoghurts instead of bagels, and stare miserably at my sugarless fat free white tea. For all the good it does...
But basically I had to eat less. Soup was my trick - warm chicken noodle soup was on 30 kcal, but the liquid filled up my stomach.
not being too hard on yourself is the key to winning this :).
About 2, I started balding in my teens and my hairline more or less stabilized in 30's. Full head of hair was never part of identity, 'me according me' has been bald for a while. 20's sucked being bald but became irrelevant in 30's :D.
[0] http://scontent.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/13269334_17...
(My sister in law is desperate that I'll never find a girlfriend, though ...)
I recently saw one about not wearing shorts after you're 20 years old... I just had to roll my eyes. Enjoy wearing pants all the time in the summer.
People online will make up rules like "men who wear this are children!" which are never based in reality. And to keep on topic, I'm sure they too stop caring by age 40 :-)
In my org, my reasonning for the many people wearing suits (usually not devs and management higher ups) is that their home has air conditionning, they come to work in their car with air conditionning and the building where we work has air conditionning.
That's how I think they survive. At least, that's what I hope for them.
NE is a different climate; that has its perks too: beautiful fall colors and wonderful snow storms (the milder ones I find fun to watch), and relatively speaking, no humidity.
As a Texan friend of mine once (jokingly) said "Weather is what you experience in a parking lot." (because everywhere else, on a day to day basis in a city — buildings/cars — is air conditioned; only that during that short trip from building to car do you endure the great outdoors) The few New Englander's I've tried this on didn't get it, whereas southerners seem to; YMMV, of course, there's no science here.
The other thing I've never seen, outside of the south, is the horizon turning green during a bad storm (caused by light refracting through hail). Also, I highly recommend the sight of a rainstorm moving across and towards you on the plains, and the sweet scented down-drafts that precede rain. And if you're sick of weather, Silicon Valley has none. (Unless you like fog, then see SF.)
I've been to the South too; we get like a week of weather like that most summers. Maybe you could quibble about the differences but it gets hot enough that I think the whole question about whether to wear shorts is equally valid.
As far as the parking lot thing... I mean, do you think we all spend a lot of time outside in the winter?
(I assumed you were a longstanding reader referencing this, but with an account ~3 months old, maybe not...) - http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
God, who are you?
Recently my girlfriend told me to pack some shorts for a trip to the Caribbean coast of a Latin American country and I bet her that there was no way the locals were going to be wearing shorts. I won.
Yah, i'm in my 40's.
My engineery brain solved it for me by figuring out that inviting people to group events, preferably ones that represent mutual interests, is a good foot in the door.
Once your confidence increases a bit you can pursue deeper relationships with some of these people, as well as further amplify your results by actually organizing something you're interested in that has reach outside of you -- think of a meetup group or business/technical community.
Eventually you have hundreds of acquaintances, many will cheerfully meet you for the occasional coffee or beer, and you can start being selective about who you spend time with based on deeper shared connections. (Prior to that you'll probably have to put up with some colorful characters and learn to limit the damage they do to you.)
Not claiming to have made any of this up or that it is easy, it's hard, it takes years, it's been talked about it before. But I think I summarized it pretty well there (there are many more nuances to learn of course).
I'm 33, haven't cared in a long time. Just do stupid shit and own it, with time, it is still stupid shit, but you won't feel embarrassed by it (I live in a posh area, my kid goes to a posh school, I wear 15 year old tshirts (that lost all their color due to washing), no shoes/socks, use shorts 90+% of the time)
edit: And interestingly enough, even though I'm married and with little interest in that, the amount of female attention I get over the ones that care is amazing (and no, I'm not good looking, 5'6, bald earlier in life, long beard and a few scars in my face)
Also talk to people. Talk to them all the time. Standing in line at the store. Passing by on the street. Just make an observation about something to start the conversation. Compliment someone. Over time you'll get two things from this. First, you'll realize that everyone is just a person like you (like, the subconscious part of your brain will get the message). Second, you'll get a bunch of little rejections (weird looks, things like that) over time in a scenario where you basically have no skin in the game. You'll no longer care about rejection and you'll realize that people rejecting you almost never has to do with you - it has to do with them.
For me it's in some ways similar to the part in the debugging or performance tuning cycle where you're just watching things happen, letting logs and metrics scroll by on your screen. Externally, you look like you're not really doing anything. But what you're doing is noticing relationships, reoccurances, rhythms. At some point you say, "That's odd. When X happens, Y follows. I wonder why that is?" And that's where the magic begins.
> When I was young, and my beard was not this gray, and someone at the orchestra was angry with me—could be personal, professional—I would ask myself "what's wrong with me, how do I fix myself?" But I have noticed that now that I am older, and my beard is very gray, when someone is angry with me, I wonder, "what's wrong with him?"—and I don't try to fix anyone.
Stopped giving a shit some time around age 19.
Got good job, a few good friends, girlfriend.
Seems to be working out.
"Just ask. The worst that can happen is they say 'No', and by not asking, you're already giving yourself a no."
I get this advice a lot and particularly hate it. Getting a "No" is not the worst that can happen. A meteor hitting the earth is the worst that can happen (or maybe snakes, or crossfit). Worst that's actually happened to me? You go up to say something to someone, stutter a few times, throw up in your mouth a little, and then run away.
(You're free to think that's worse than not asking in the first place, of course, and therefore not bother, but then you give up on the possibility of "Yes". I'm terrible at adhering to this advice, but I know I want some "Yes"es in my life and there's only one way to get them.)
They laugh at you, and all the people around turn around and it turns out they were listening and are friends, and also laugh at you.
You turn and look into the cafe window, the barista is staring at you and shakes their head patronisingly.
You feel a sudden panic attack coming on - maybe you've never had one before - it feels like your chest is in a vice, you can't breathe, you piss yourself and collapse on the floor. Someone calls 911.
An ambulance turns up, by which point you feel OK again. You have to explain to the paramedics that you had a panic attack because you asked someone to get coffee. Their faces.
Someone took their phone out and had been recording the events. Cloudy face recognition picks up who you are and tags your name onto the clip.
You are making your way home when the police call you; somewhere along the way the events have gone down in the paperwork as a fraudulent 911 call. Nobody can tell you how.
Your insurance company hears about it and your insurance is provided by your employer. You are laid off from work.
For me imagining she says yes worked better. YMMV.
Sometimes you will offend or annoy people. These negative experiences are growth opportunities. Apologize. Learn a social lesson. Next time you won't make the same mistake.
There are two situations that I can think of where apologizing is appropriate and appreciated:
1. You did something bad, rather than just saying something. Like puking on a friend's couch. Go out of your way to make amends.
2. Immediately after you said something and realized how insensitive or offensive it was. Conversation moves fast, if it hasn't already moved on briefly retract and apologize, then let others talk for a while.
I tend to fixate on things I've said in the past that I regret. I have a rotating roster of my "most awkward moments" that my brain likes to randomly replay for me without prompting. In the past I used to go out of my way to find a way to apologize for these moments. Almost always the encounter was awkward enough to give me something new to fixate on. Most of the time they don't even remember the conversation in question.
Don't take yourself too seriously. There's a certain amount of hubris in assuming that something you said in passing deeply affected anybody else. Forgive yourself and let these small fixations go and others will too, probably much faster than you do.
Am I the only one that finds this statement darkly utilitarian?
If you are a good person and your company has a positive effect on them?
- What if I invite them to coffee and I think they're super awesome and they think I'm an idiot
To:
- What if I invite them to coffee and that 15 minutes turns into 4 hours and I still want to hang out more because they're awesome (which they will be, because frankly I find everyone fascinating); except now I have this disquieting sense of guilt because none of the other projects I have scheduled to complete in this time are getting completed... or started, or thought about.
- What if I don't invite them to coffee and they are or have some information to share that (combined with my own experience) is the key to my entire existence... or perhaps the future of humanity.
Maybe I let my mind get away with me sometimes...
Sometimes coffee is just a way to blow off 15 minutes with some amusing banter because sometimes it's better to step away from the computer than it is to keep bashing your head against it.
How do I, as a 27 year-old Grad student invite women for coffee without them feeling it might be a 'trick-date', or having them not get comfortable?
Really, I want it to be a date _less_ than you do, but how do I convince you that?
To quote Always Sunny, it's all about the implication. I start with a question unrelated to the coffee "Jane, how are things going at Salesforce? I've been considering a move lately, mind if I get you a coffee and pick your brain a bit?" You can initialize the convo at that point and then either fluidly move the conversation elsewhere if desired, or, you know, not. Anyway, that's how I do it: transparent objective.
The converse is also true though, there's a much greater risk for not taking the leap given a). the amount invested (lack of it) so far and b). the real risk of them saying no (I mean if they say no, then what?). What if this person is the key that unlocks the meaning of life for me and I don't take this leap? Admittedly they're probably not but weighing these risks against each other, it would appear more foolish not to ask than to ask. If you don't ask, or you ask and they say no, you're exactly at the same position you are now (except your ego is a little bruised, but that'll recover). If you don't ask, you'll spare your ego potential embarrassment but you'll always be stuck where you are.
Worrying about the outcome of this date/trick date/non-date probably isn't going to change the outcome of your conversation - it's probably not going to change her answer to your invitation. All it's going to do is worry you into not inviting her; and then what?
If she thinks you're an interesting person, she'll come for coffee, if she doesn't think you're an interesting person, she's probably not going to come for coffee unless you're more interesting than whatever else she's got going on right now... like studying for that exam she's procrastinating about not studying for... and really, do you want to be the guy (or girl) she has coffee with only because you're a distraction from her current reality or would you rather be the cause of the distraction?
The key isn't to appear interesting, it's to be interested and interesting. Start with the small talk, let her get onto a topic that fascinates her. Listen! Become invested in the conversation, find something you find fascinating about it. Offer insights you may have, walk, talk, get coffee and let life unfold.
... and if you don't mean it to be a date, why worry about it anyway? The outcome of whether or not she goes for coffee with you doesn't even make a difference. You may as well just say "hey, can we walk and talk? I'm not really finished with this conversation, but I need a coffee, perhaps we can walk in that direction" or if you're already walking perhaps "Hey, do you mind if we just stop in here so I can grab a coffee?" and then when you're paying say "hey, can I get you anything while we're here?"
The key is to be invested in the conversation. When you're invested in the conversation - not just your part of the conversation, but theirs too, people want to be around you. Being engaging is a key ingredient of that thing that everyone calls charisma. People want to talk to you because you make them feel important, you make them feel like things matter (not only to you, but to them as well), but mostly you make them feel; and I can tell you this:
A few days after, people may not even remember what you talked about, perhaps not even what you looked like, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
I feel like someone important may have said this before, perhaps Maya Angelou. Though I've held to this for years, so I like to believe she ripped me off (I'm deluded, what can I say? :D)
Often then you find that life will just unfold as you let it; and if you do find yourself in a position where you feel you have to make a leap, perhaps because you want it to become a date, or whatever, to rip a quote right out of a movie (We bought a zoo):
"You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it."
Conversely - if you don't, where are you? You'll spend your life kicking yourself and asking "what if I had?"
You might as well tell a blind man the key is to use his retina.
Some of us find success at this sort of interpersonal interaction to be well-nigh impossible.
If you don't project what you're interested in, how are you ever going to know if they're interested in it? I've generally found that even the most arcane things I find fascination with, that you'd probably think people would think are boring can spawn the most intriguing conversations. If you project that fascination, that sense of wonder and awe, the thing, the grain of the idea that most excites you about it, when you get excited about it, people (in my experience) tend to come along for the ride. Before you know it, 15 minutes is 4 hours and all that stuff you wanted to get done this evening is gonna have to wait until tomorrow.
Not a woman, but I suspect this is true & a good point. Coffee is ambiguous, and it seems unlikely you'd be turned down because I would probably enjoy hanging out with you but this MIGHT be a date so NO.
She (or he) might wonder "is this meant to be a date?", but you can concretely answer that question just in your behavior. The way you act will telegraph your intentions. Stammer a compliment about her/his eyes, it's a date. Wave them over to your table when they walk in, say hi, don't even get up, it's just friends.
Getting coffee with coworkers of different genders is such a completely benign and routine activity.
Keep calm and friendly when asking. Make sure the stakes are low for you.
Try ice cream.
Please don't do this. Make your intentions very clear. "I find the fact that you love old botanic illustrations and go to flea markets every weekend to find them sexy about you." (where X is not her appearance, of course). "I'd like to buy you a coffee and continue this conversation."
If there is one thing my women friends may agree on, it is the ambiguousness of a meeting, particularly if they are interested in the person. Changing gender roles aside, the man has to take the lead. There must be polarity in the relationship from the beginning, otherwise it won't even start. This is the classic "friend zone", in which the window of opportunity exponentially fades away and trying to make the relationship romantic will burn the friendship.
Yes, the woman chooses if she wants to accept. Make it easier for her to say not. If she says yes to an ambiguous thing, she has to consider the possibilities. So, in fact, it may be easier for her to say no or give an indefinite "maybe" which is in fact a no.
One of my women friends who works in tech was lamenting recently about how guys would invite her to coffee wanting to learn more about her research. And then it would become clear that they just wanted an excuse to ask her out for coffee (a date). It is awkward for both sides. Consider this - if one of these coffees becomes a date or more, she fears word will get around that, yes, she will "date" people in her tech community.
Crossfit is just like fightclub if the first two rules were the opposite.
At which point the hypothetical doomsday scenario extends beyond just the immediate scenario. For whatever reason age does help though. Part of me wonders if modern marketing plays a minor role. The younger you are, the more advertising pushes the need to 'fit in' or impress peers as the primary appeal of a product.
1. Probably
That being said, go get 'em, it probably won't happen again :)
This sentence you just wrote should make it very clear why she ran away from you....
I think programmers tend to identify with being socially awkward as we spend our time focusing on analytical problems usually by ourselves or with similar individuals which emphasizes our brain's wiring to be that way even more so over time, then the less traveled wiring weakens over time (social wiring, your developer buddies don't count).
The crux is we are all social creatures and need to feel accepted by the opposite sex. If we fall short, we will spin ad infinitum worrying about it. Its a deep rooted need within us and cannot be rationalized away, similar to rationalizing you are full when you haven't eaten for a long time. You must take action. Blame Darwin if you must but do something about it.
Because a lot of programmers like me are social pansies when it comes to taking risks, you can try this approach first. Do real weights and wind sprints and eat right to promote testosterone as looking like a dude attracts women. Running long distances way too often will make you a look like a unic twig, lower your testosterone levels, and rob you of muscle. I can't stress enough how the right eating habits and exercise will change everything, most likely within 90 days you'll see a huge difference like night and day, looking lean and mean. Your personality will also have changed, being more confident and bold with the added bonus of girls looking your way. You will become more attractive to females in other words, prepping you for the next step.
Now you are ready to take the issue head on and expose yourself to as many social situations as possible, forcing your social wiring to strengthen, but with the caveat of not giving a shit of individual outcomes, thinking of it more like the sheer act of doing this long enough will cause things to move in the right direction. To truly not give a shit is freeing and what's odd about that is people (especially women) seem to like you much more when you are worry free and have a natural comfort about yourself. Women truly are like buses where the next one will come along simply because there are so many fucking people in the world. Break some eggs and get out there.
Wow, actual advice that works gets down voted. This is a bit of irony but also tragic. The group that needs this type of advice the most, will not take it.
Yeah, no.
> If we fall short, we will spin ad infinitum worrying about it.
Nope.
> Its a deep rooted need within us and cannot be rationalized away, similar to rationalizing you are full when you haven't eaten for a long time.
Lol. No.
> Lose weight, eat right, get fit, etc etc etc
I lost 120 lb's and got down to 10% body fat when I was in my early 20's (300 to 180) having been extremely fat my whole life up to that point. I was still a nervous wreck with severe self confidence issues. I did it for women like OP says to above. Please don't make the same mistake I did. Do it for yourself. Do it for your own health. If you do it for such shallow reasons like the OP is saying, you won't keep it off. It takes work and it takes time. Also, you don't need to be fit with a 6 pack to talk to/pick up/ask out women. All you need is self confidence, and thats not something you can get by lifting weights. Anybody who tells you different is naive and a fool (and probably more insecure than you). The best piece of advice I ever got when it comes to confidence: Know yourself, appreciate yourself, love yourself - if you can't do any of those things how do you expect someone else to.
The working out thing isn't about hubris or for women. Its for you. What happens when you change your body's chemistry makeup to promote testosterone, rather than lots of fat having the effect of creating estrogen and lowering T and your outlook in life... the methods to increase T change your personality so you are more of a risk taker and are better able to have that boldness to talk to women and take action in general in life, while also being more attractive, if that was your problem in the first place. You may be horribly shy etc but at least you are more embolden to take action than being out of shape, creating estrogen and logically, you will have less reason to have lower self confidence. Its a good place to start to become more social as your physicality is primed for it.
It is not shallow to promote an optimized version of yourself and I would talk about more areas of finance and giving as well but that is outside of the subject. Taking care of yourself is something that you will regret if you don't.
I'm very past even worrying about women now, I only worry about one and have 3 young sons. However, my strategy worked so well with such dramatic results that I felt the need to share that experience. Maybe the writing style should be more IMO-style, "careful to not offend everyone", but again, I'm still doing the lifestyle health thing and will do it till I die. I have plenty of boldness to go around, now focusing that energy on attacking the business world.
Once we're sitting down and talking, I'm fine. I just don't know how to deal with my little "non-conforming weirdnesses" with others.
Being real always trumps being fake - even if that real looks like what you call "weird". Weird is the new normal... mostly because there is no normal. Everyone's weird; if they're not, you just don't know them well enough yet. I'd rather hang with 2 weird real people than 10 "normal" fake people - I don't even care if they don't like $4 coffees... because I don't even drink coffee.
I don't get sugary coffees either. I just order a black coffee. If anyone asks (rarely happens) I just tell them I don't like sugary or sweet/caramel drinks (I don't).
You don't drink coffee... millions of people don't. I don't eat peanuts, I'm not allergic to them, I just don't like peanuts. When there's peanuts, I don't eat them. No justification required.
Not that I'm trying to project what I think you should do, but I will tell you, when you stop feeling like you need to justify everything (I went through this too), suddenly life feels a little easier... and life's pain in the ass enough without getting in your own way.
What you eventually realize is that there's nothing weird about you and conforming with everyone else doesn't make you normal. What you end up doing is conforming with your perception of everyone else (which is largely a mask - the Facebook effect) and keep your weirdness hidden. Weird is normal. What appears to be normal (sadly) is that everyone hides their weirdness because they're so busy being afraid what other people will think of them (when in reality nobody gives anyone else much of a second thought), that they end up feeling isolated and alone.
The weirdness is part of the richness of life, you can't be wholly yourself by holding that back from the world around you.
Everyone knows that. If you are accepting the culturally implied subtext but rejecting the specific superficial form, you say "I don't like coffee, but maybe we could..."
When people do a flat rejection, with no suggested alternative, its usually intended as a polite rejection of the culturally implied subtext, not merely the superficial form.
Once because it is polite to ask - the other person, if polite, is expected to refuse. Twice because it is considered polite to ask again. Only to be denied again out of politeness. The third offer is the first "real" offer at which point the recipient can accept without being rude. A conversation might go like this:
"Would you like to stay for dinner?" - "Thank you, but I wouldn't want to intrude." - "I insist! If you are hungry, please stay." - "Thank you, but I'm fine." - "There is enough food to go around - are you sure you don't want to stay and eat?" - "I will, thank you. / I'm not feeling hungry, but thank you."
It's really quite silly. Many cultures cut it down to only having to ask twice with the first time being the expected denial and the second time expecting an honest answer.
Sure, why not? I don't drink coffee (or tea either), and if I'm not in the mood for hot chocolate, I get a pastry of some kind, and maybe a glass of water if I'm thirsty. Nobody thinks anything of it. You're way less weird than you think you are.
Will: Great, or maybe we could get together and just eat a bunch of caramels.
Skylar: What?
Will: When you think about it, it's just as arbitrary as drinking coffee.
Just say "sorry, not a big coffee guy, can we go to X/take a walk in the park/eat a bunch of caramels instead?". The coffee is just a conversational placeholder, there is no spoon. As long as you immediately propose an alternative, you're fine.
This kind of thinking would have killed millions of succesful marriages and/or long term relationships. Not to mention tons of steamy short term relationships.
Besides, after a certain age, that there are "enough women in the world" doesn't say much. After university, the place people most tend to socialize and meet other people is work -- in fact there was an article about this very fact this week on HN.
Besides, people are actually (in this universe and at the present) in love, getting married etc with other people in their workplace, and you are telling those people not to do it, thus constraining with arbitrary dictums their present experience, not some future universe one.
And if my argument about "most people after thirties socialize more at their work than any other place" is true, this advice also severely limits their options.
And for what?
For example, people are actually (in this universe and in the present) in love with someone who is ... hooked up with someone else who also works in the same office. They have that rubbed in their face every weekday, starting at 9 a.m., until either they, or those other two, change jobs. While you can't prevent disappointment in this area of life, you can prevent having it be a work situation. In fact, work can be a place where you can get such things out of your mind by concentrating on something else.
Might as well not do anything in that department then, because all affairs can go wrong (and almost half of marriages do).
>They have that rubbed in their face every weekday, starting at 9 a.m., until either they, or those other two, change jobs. While you can't prevent disappointment in this area of life, you can prevent having it be a work situation. In fact, work can be a place where you can get such things out of your mind by concentrating on something else.
And you can prevent it by magically making yourself not to be in love anymore with a coworker? Or by making yourself to avoid even thinking about liking someone you work with in the first place?
Good grief, what are you going to do if you're married, yet still in daily contact with attractive coworkers? "Hi Honey, I'm home; oh I couldn't conjure up the 'magic' required to stop myself from falling in love with Sue at work today. Sorry!"
One trick is to find at three things (or more; as many as you can) that turn you off about anyone who might even remotely be a target of your affections. You will be surprised how easy it is.
Well, the main reason I'm against dating others from work is that I've had to deal with people acting in annoying and unnatural ways because they are trying to impress someone on the team they are attracted to, even if its just subconscious on their part. Sometimes it's even the team leader, which is the worst. Make a rule that you don't date coworkers and the behavioral changes usually go away (break the rule if you want, but at least make it in the first place).
I met my wife at the office. I had friends at the time. There were some other women I was attracted to, as well. It didn't work with them. It worked with my wife. It's as simple as that.
(If I slip up and they accidentally see through me, see what a socially inept and boring person I am, they'll hate me forever and also they'll tell everyone in the world about their boring experiences with me, and no one will ever like me anymore.)
Save the stress for the relatives and in-laws, those will kill you.
If there's a gathering of less than 20 people from my country, I love everyone. 20-50 and I start hyperventilating. More than 50, and I make and execute elaborate plans to get out at any costs.
Closely followed by:
"I'll be branded a coffee snob for criticising the coffee."
Who am I trying to kid, I clearly am a coffee snob.
The best outcome might even be for your coffee to wind up cold and untouched- maybe you just had a riveting conversation.
This is so true. I'm an aromantic lesbian, so even though I'm attracted to women, I have no desire to date anyone. But I'm worried people won't know that I'm aromantic and will think I'm hitting on them when I just want to hang out and maybe become friends.
A few years ago, I pretty much botched any chance I had to be friends with one of my female coworkers, who was a really cool person I'd have liked to hang out with more. Unfortunately, I was afraid to talk to her, ask her to hang out after work, etc., because I was terrified she'd think I have a crush on her and was hitting on her. It doesn't help that I'm transgender and I knew her before my transition, so I was always afraid she'd think of me as just being another guy trying to get into her pants. Oh, and it didn't help that I was jealous of her, because she looks pretty much exactly how I want to look but will never be able to (dysphoria is a powerful thing).
As such, I was terribly awkward around her, and every time I wanted to hang out with her or anything, I either decided against it or was so nervous and awkward that anyone around me could tell.
I'm a little better at it now, thankfully.
And, yes, I'm the kind of awkward person who over-analyzes every conversation I've ever had with anyone.
The funny thing is sometimes, for me, this has turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy, and suddenly I'm into them.
It's modulated by how furiously I worry about it.
Isn't this anxiety? Couldn't this apply to any situation that is anxiety inducing?
I suspect it's all originating from the same irrational feelings.
And thus ends another smug, elitist, pedantic, humorless and certainly unnecessary HN correction. You're welcome.
It can be boiled down to "I am afraid of rejection, and I don't want to put myself out there."
Rejections suck. We've all been there, and nobody else out there is responsible for your mental well being.
Why are you afraid of a simple "no" or a response out of an obligation? Maybe the person you're asking out to coffee is a Mormon or has high blood pressure and can't drink caffeine, or he/she doesn't like the taste.
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. I know that I personally regret everytime I wanted to ask somebody out or even ask for a raise at work, but didn't, cause "that would be weird".
Instead if she said "I suffer from social anxiety, and I'm working on it" it'd be a much better article.
It's all about the interior vs exterior locus of control.
Yes, because the things you fear as a result of social anxiety are inflicted on you. They are not things you can control, that's what makes them scary.
Things do happen to you, things you can't control. You can however control your reaction.
You are choosing to be scared, or not enter therapy, or talk to somebody about that.
Maybe you don't have enough money to talk to a therapist, or you have other things on your plate, or your social anxiety isn't a huge problem, something you can deal with.
The onus is still on YOU to deal with your anxiety, not on the world to treat you with kid gloves. Internal rather than external locus of control.
The same way War and Peace can be boiled down to "it speaks about Russia and Napoleon", to quote Woody Allen.
If it was boiled down to what you suggest, you wouldn't have much of a glimpse on the author's fears and though process, just know that they, like billions of others, "fear rejection".
>Why are you afraid of a simple "no" or a response out of an obligation?
Because they really want the answer to be yes.
It's a humor piece. "Shouts & Murmurs" is the New Yorker's humor section.
Our bodies are still Windows 98.
"Everything I am afraid might happen if I asked a new acquaintance to meet for coffee."
But yes, depending on how one reads, the title takes on a totally different meaning. I usually have this trouble.
there.
- They'll go to StarBucks or Nero or Costa some other god awful chain with over-roasted fully or semi robusta coffee
- They'll want me to explain what a flat white is
- They'll put sugar in my drink
- They'll get me some kind of American milkshake instead of a coffee.
That simply is not true. People are so unique and diverse that while there are other members of the opposite sex out there, to find someone truly compatible is rare, hence why divorce rates are so high. For me, the anxiety comes when I have found someone who I know is extremely compatible but am afraid I won't attract them.
Not every member of the opposite sex makes me feel the same way certain ones do. Saying there are plenty of fish in the sea is like saying there are plenty of baseballs to hit in batting practice. While true, it elides the fact that it's only real at bats that matter. Once you strike out, you're stuck waiting for your next at bat which may never come.