Hey guys,

Happy holidays. I didn’t know where else to share this, and it’s been eating me alive all day.

Earlier in the bookstore today this really cute girl sat next to me in the cafe. I wanted to talk to her but I kept psyching myself out. I had to regroup myself because the mental gymnastics I was putting myself through was too much. So I asked her to watch my stuff for 10 min as I went to the bathroom and browsed the store as I tried to collect myself, just so I can muster up the courage to have a conversation with her. I talked to random people in the bookstore to flex those conversational muscles and I tried to stay present and not think too much.

When I got back to my seat I said to her “ I think it’s been longer than 10 mins but thank you anyway” and she responded “yea no problem! Either way I would’ve been here watching your stuff”. She said it in a friendly, receptive way so she seemed to be open to having a convo. She even started to fiddle around a bit a few mins later almost as if she was trying to get my attention from my peripheral view. She asked me to watch her stuff soon afterwards while she went to the bathroom. The signs seemed to be clear as day!

But I can’t really describe what I was feeling in that moment. I was frozen. I just couldn’t pull the trigger. I was crippled by anxiety about what to say and I KNEW I would be beating myself up about it if I didn’t make a move. And just like that, she got up and left and that was that.

Wow. I guess I just needed to vent because idk why I couldn’t just spark up a conversation with her, and now I’m here just thinking about what I should’ve done. But how do you guys go about overcoming these mental blocks and pushing through your anxiety to talk to a girl you find attractive?