People really really liked Jessica. She could be a difficult one to really get to know, but she was also one that everyone was happy to see.
We used to joke that every single person in town was either an old friend of hers (because she had loads of them who we’d frequently bump into while out and about) or a cousin of mine (I come from a huge extended family, who we would also frequently bump into). One time, after we’d been together for a couple years (and known each other for a lot longer) we happened to bump into an old friend of hers who also happened to be a cousin of mine, and we each tried to introduce the other and, especially for us with our dumb inside joke, it was the funniest fuckin’ thing ever.
Anyway, the reason I started talking about her loads of friends is because I’ve never been the most social person (says the anxiety-ridden agoraphobe in the greatest understatement of the decade) and it always seemed entirely effortless to her, which I greatly admired/envied.
But she taught me her secret and, during the rare times when my anxiety takes it’s hands off from around my neck, I do my best to enact that.
And, like all secret tricks, once I tell you about it, it’s going to seem laughably simplistic and a lot of people will refuse until their dying day to accept that it could really be so easy.
So here it is.
People are extremely guarded, and constantly worry about what others will think of them if they say or do anything out of the ordinary, so they keep 99.99% of their thoughts to themselves. If you want people to notice you and like you then, whenever you think something nice about someone, just try to say it to them. Most of the time it will work out and, if they do happen to take it poorly, then fuck ‘em (not, uh, literally).