I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.
Today’s tip is to have a friendly chat with someone you don’t know well.
In general, I don’t chit chat or strike up conversations. I go through airports and on planes with headphones doing my own thing.
However, there are times I will start a conversation. Recently I was at the gym for volleyball activities. It’s a new place for me, and I don’t know many other coaches. A lot of them are younger, and they will look at their phones when nothing is going on. Like a lot of younger people. And older people as well.
I greeted someone and got a hi back. I could have dropped things, but I asked a couple questions, talked about plans for the day, and got them to open up a bit. While I am introverted, part of what I enjoy about coaching is time with other coaches, tackling a similar challenge. It was a nice 5 minutes chat before we went to work.