How often have you found yourself in a situation that has turned awkward? It could be from a comment that has been made or the fact that someone has walked into the room. There may even be a silence where the tension could be cut with a knife. You don’t need to fret over these situations anymore. Here are tips for handling the awkward situations easily and quickly.
1. Joke and Laugh About It
One of the easiest ways to get out of an awkward situation is by someone saying something like “well, this is awkward…” It makes everyone focus on that point and laugh about it.
You could also make a joke about it if you can think of one off the top of your head. Laughter helps to diffuse tension and stress extremely quickly and makes everyone else in the room feel better.
2. Give Yourself an Excuse
Awkward situations arise at all sorts of times.
You could find yourself talking with an ex-boyfriend or you’re on a date with someone you really don’t like. One of the best ways to handle this type of situation is to give yourself a reason to leave it. Make up an excuse, or have a way of sending a message to tell someone you need help to get out.
3. Small Talk can Lead to a Worthwhile Conversation
How many times have you spoken to someone about the tiniest part of a day and found that your conversation has derailed to someone interesting and exciting? It can happen with small talk, and this could be your best way of getting out of this awkward situation.
Start asking someone what they do for a living or how their day has been, and you will soon find some common ground. Of course, you both need to work at this type of conversation for it to carry.
4. Think of a Random Fact
Are you a useless knowledge of random facts?
This could be a good way of diffusing the situation. Your random fact will get everyone talking, and will soon have them laughing or chatting away about it. It takes the focus on the reason for the awkward situation in the first place, and nobody is going to ask for a reminder about why it started.
5. Try to Remain Calm and Look Natural
The more you panic about the situation, the worse it is going to get. The best thing you can do is remain calm and stay natural throughout it all. If you show that it is getting to you, the other person will start to stress.
You begin to panic about what to talk about and your minds will go blank. By remaining calm, you will be able to come up with conversation starts quickly.
6. Use Conversation Starters
You’ll find a range of conversation starters online. Before an event where you’re talking to different people, do your research into the different conversation starters available.
If you can discreetly look at your phone or excuse yourself for a while, you could even look them up online during the situation.
