Shut Up and Say Hello
It’s not too hard, no one is going to judge you or laugh at you. No one is going to role their eyes. Just shut up and say hello.
It doesn’t matter what you say — Hi, Hello, Hey wassup — just say it already. Stop rehearsing — it’s just a word. Say it.
No she won’t think you’re a creep. (Unless you say it like one). No he won’t think you’re being slutty. It’s just a hello. Say it.
Even if you don’t know anyone, even if you have to say it first, even if you have never said it before to anybody — now is a good time to start saying Hello. Say it.
It’s not old-fashioned. It’s a perfectly acceptable, normal way of greeting people — strangers, friends and acquaintances.
Say hello to people you meet on the bus everyday. That girl or guy in your class. The co-worker who just joined your department. The office clerk. The canteen attendant. The vegetable vendor. That cat sitting on your staircase. It doesn’t matter who it is. You see them everyday. Say hello. You know you want to.
Conversations start with hello. Friendships begin with hello. Hello opens up new possibilities. It builds opportunities. It inspires confidence. It takes you from a no one to a some one. Some one who says hello.
When you say hello, you are no longer a face in the crowd or some random shadow in the corner, or a yellow emoji on a screen. You become a person. A real person. Someone with a voice that has something to say, thoughts to share and a mind that cares. Someone with an identity, a personality. Someone who gives a beep.
More importantly, it makes you someone who can recognize and treat another person like a real person. The mere act of saying hello, in person, to the face of another human being, makes them feel real. As real as life can get.
So do it. Even if it’s not your thing. Even if you’re ‘introverted’. Even if you think it’s crazy. Even if it scares the living daylights out of you. Do it. Not on a phone, not through a screen, not on a chat window, not with an emoji, not in passing — but in person, with your voice, while standing in front of this person you’ve never ever spoken to before. Say the damn word.
Because that’s what makes us human. That’s what makes us real. That is how we were supposed to relate to others. Because that is how great stories start. And that is how memories are made.
Say hello.
Get ample opportunities to practice your hello-saying skills with Brigge. Download the app, meet new people, do fun things, learn stuff and say hello! :)
