Dr. Aziz explains how to connect more deeply by sharing small, specific things about yourself, like "I'm a little stressed, had a challenging interaction with a co-worker." The goal is a middle ground between oversharing and staying closed off, letting you invite real conversation while managing risk.
Here's the secret to quickly connecting with others without over sharing or actually driving them away. Now, a lot of people know that vulnerability is a powerful way to connect. So they meet the person at the bus stop and you might have talked to that person and they're like, let me tell you about all my problems in life. And what do you want to do? You kind of want to get away from them. It's not because they're bad, it's because they're going too far too quickly. At the same time, if you don't reveal anything and you're, you know, all your cards are close to your chest and people ask how you're doing, you say, I'm fine, how are you? Then you don't connect with anybody. No one wants to talk to you after that. So the middle ground is to be slow, slightly more vulnerable, and see how it goes. So someone asks, how's it going? Instead of saying, I'm fine, I'd say, ah, well, I guess I'm a little stressed out right now. I had a challenging interaction with my co worker just now, or I just had a fight with my kid before I left the house. And now all of a sudden there's a more real conversation there. Look, it's not the most deep secret in your life, but you've shared a little bit and you see all of a sudden the person might be drawn in, they might ask you questions. Now there's more connection available and this requires you to take the risk to be more vulnerable first.
