4 Ways to Get Past Your Fear of Saying “Hi” to People You Know in Public

1. We don’t fear saying hi, we fear being ignored by the other person.

Nothing is more mortifying than building up the courage to say hi to someone and all they do is look you dead in the eye and walk away. Or even worse, you realize they did that because it wasn’t who you thought it was. Laugh it off and move on, because I guarantee it’s happened to everyone, including the person you just said hi to. 

2. If you know the person, just say hi.

It looks far worse for the other person than it does for you if they don’t say hi back. And trust me, the rest of the day they’ll be replaying the whole encounter in their heads and asking themselves why they were so awkward. And because they’ll be so focused on themselves, they’ll also never even question why you weirdly said hi to them. 

3. Yep, that includes saying hi to the people in the gray area between friends and acquaintance.

These are actually the most important people to say hi to. It makes you look like a nice person for remembering them, and you might even get a friend out of it. 

4. It makes the other person happy you pushed passed the awkwardness to acknowledge them.

I know when someone says hi to me out of the blue, it makes my entire outlook on the day better. These small gestures matter, so put yourself out there and embrace the awkwardness.

• fear
• humor
• introversion