Talking to women can feel exhausting, mostly because I keep reaching a point where I have no idea what to say next. The conversation hits a wall, there’s an awkward silence, and suddenly small talk seems like a misleading name for a fairly demanding activity.
I could switch topics. I understand that much. What I don’t understand is how to do it naturally, without sounding as though I’m pulling subjects out of a raffle drum. There must be a stretch of conversational road between staying on one subject forever and abruptly requesting an opinion about something unrelated.
Maybe part of the problem is knowing when to stop. I’d like to be able to recognize a conversation that has run its course instead of treating every pause as an emergency I’m personally responsible for resolving.
Then there’s the question of starting one. If I see an adult woman I find attractive but we’ve never met, how do I approach her? I’ve heard mixed advice about introducing yourself to a stranger, and the advice hasn’t become clearer through repetition.
Finally, I’m 5’7”. TikTok has provided plenty of opportunities to wonder whether that means an automatic rejection. I’d like to know how much of that carries over into actual dating, where people presumably have other things to discuss once everyone’s measurements are established.
So I’m asking about the practical parts: how to keep a conversation moving, how to make an introduction welcome, and how to tell when it’s time to leave it there. Ideally, before I panic and introduce a completely unrelated topic.
