How do I...?

...talk to someone?

I was at a TIFF event tonight and it was wonderful, it really was. The third floor was decorated with helium balloons on the ceiling, hosted by CBC's The Debaters's Steve Patterson, and felt intimate and comfortable. But when it ended, everyone grouped off into pairs and quartets, and it felt like a high school dance, but with older-looking faces.

So, I stood by the elevators with my glass of wine and pretended to survey the crowd (nobody I knew - or recognized - was there), and looked at my phone, pretending to check important emails like I was expecting one from the Prime Minister or someone.

Except I wasn't.

There was a girl standing a couple of feet away from me doing the same thing: clutching a wine glass, checking her phone, looking at the crowd. And I told myself, Christina, go talk to her. Make a friend. Speak up! Except by the time I figured out the best thing to say was "hi", she'd walked away, presumably (to my mind) to a group of fantastic people she knew.

...step out of my own skin?

In university, I had a friend, P, who could walk into a room of a thousand strangers and leave being best friends with all of them.

I'm not like that.

At all.

But I need to at least take a step in that direction. How?

I'm a shy person, but not in the typical sense. I like talking to people and finding out their thoughts. One of the best parts of my job is getting to find out about the lives of others- what they've done, how they've accomplished their goals, where they're headed, and what they've experienced.

I'm lucky beyond belief that I get to talk to so many people and that it's set up for me. I also know, however, that I can't rely on this forever for two reasons: I have no guarantee that it'll continue, and I can't use it as a crutch forever.

So, if you've got any tips for me, please share.