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When one thinks of taking a “risk”, it’s often along the lines of death.

When I think of risk, I think of uncharted territory.

Risk shouldn’t be a fearful concept. If you look up the word “risk” from dictionary.com:

“exposure to the chance of injury or loss”

So will you be mortally wounded or lose something terrible if you approach a stranger in a social situation? Maybe, maybe not.

When meeting new people, the fact is, you will feel the anxiety of approaching the unknown.

Let’s say you’re at a party, and you want to meet some new people. You will eventually approach a group of people. They don’t know you, and you don’t know them, but you want to strike up conversation. What action creates what outcome?

Let’s say that the action is that you want to approach them and ask them how they know the host. This is harmless to some. To others, this is an extreme risk, and they would not approach. What is at risk here? What is the WORST that could happen? Not much.

If something negative comes out of this interaction, remember you are talking to strangers and the chances that you meet up with these people again is slim. If you do meet up again, there’s no need to re-approach if you had already had a negative reaction.

And then consider the positive cost. You could make new friends, a new person to date, or a business connection.

In my opinion, taking the risk to approaching strangers at a social gathering is a fine risk to take, and is something not to be fearful of. If you can accept the idea that the repair of a negative reaction with strangers is walking away and not seeing them again, then you can handle social risk without much fear. Be confident in knowing that at anytime, you can “abort” and walk away, and try again with a new stranger.

And the more social risks you take, the less fear and anxiety you will feel in each subsequent situation.

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