8. Pressure to sound smart or interesting

Whining about your problems always makes you feel worse. So if something is wrong, put the energy you would waste complaining into making the situation better.

Don't talk about what's wrong. Talk about how you'll make things better, even if that conversati...

Everyone likes to feel like they’re an expert on something. Even if you know a lot about the subject you end up talking about, ask the person to explain things to you. For example,

if a news event comes up, say “...

• If you're together in the same place, you have something in common. If we can be aware that others also feel uncomfortable, we can think about what we can do to make them feel comfortable with us.
• Ask people how they know the host or how they got ...