As I was walking to the office I was thinking: I will write at least 15 minutes a day, without regard if I have anything interesting to write about, because it's not about writing about interesting things, it's like exercise which is both good for you and makes you feel better after doing it, and also easy to fall wayside as more urgent things come to call our attention. Right now, for example, I ought to be preparing a pull request to address a client's feature but I will finish writing my daily entry.
The last two weeks I've been going to a new yoga studio (new for me). I left my usual studio because they changed the classes I attended into a slot of time that was not convenient for me. But I also wanted a change, I had been going to this studio for a year and I barely had spoken to anyone, and I had this aspiration to be more social at the new studio.
This hasn't happened. I go, say hello to the receptionist, take off my shoes, go to the dressing room, change into shorts and a t-shirt, do my practice, go to the dressing room to put on my pants and jacket, and say goodbye to the receptionist on my way out. I see people chit-chat and I wonder how that is done, what do you say to start a conversation?
The other day I asked ChatGPT: what do I talk about with people at my yoga studio? Keep it casual and cool, speak about the practice, ask what is their favorite style, which teacher they like the most, that sort of thing which I intellectually grasp, but when I'm sitting next to a person, putting my shoes on, I don't really feel like striking up conversation and these topic seem vapid, uninteresting, or out of place.
When my sister came to visit me some weeks ago, she would strike up conversation with everyone. Most of her interactions would make me cringe, she tends to be semi-autistic in a social way in which she doesn't read cues, which is the opposite of my semi-autism in which I'm anti-social and read too much into cues. I recall an interaction in which we were waiting for a studio to open its doors and there was another woman with us waiting. My sister began asking questions of increasing intimacy until I interrupted "Margaret, what you are doing is considered quite eccentric here in Spain"—or even Mexico, which I did not say, but I noticed our interlocutor didn't protest against me interrupting the interrogation, and I redirected the conversation towards more causal topics.
I do admire her ability to naturally jump into a conversation with a stranger, but I cringe at her ability directing its flow and matching the energy of other people. I think, if I want something to learn from her, it's that I should jump into conversations in the same way we jump into a cool pool. It seems unappealing at first, but once you are swimming you enjoy it.
Time get started with work. I'll play a game with myself: I'll strike up conversation at my yoga studio tomorrow, and come back into the office to write about it.