GUIDO PETRI

One of my pet peeves with myself was that I didn't think I socialized enough. Part of that was due to my belief that I didn't have sufficient social skills.

To improve them, I took it upon me to read up on several phenomena that occur during social situations. Some of these are: microexpressions, general body language, vocal intonation, foot positioning, hand positioning, and eye contact.

I also read up on some philosophers' ideas and read the news in order to be able to converse about most topics - having the thought processes of philosophers and sociologists ingrained into my brain helps when discussing anything, from which drink is best to ISIS to the war on drugs.

I made really good progress, if I can say so myself. I still don't put myself in enough social situations (in my opinion), but I blame that on my surroundings and not on me. I still see some of it on the people around me though; a sideways glance, a fake smile or a light touch to the arm. Since body language is 55% of communication, these are all very important and I am proud to say I can see such signals consciously.

Progress on this is continuing, but at this point I am satisfied with my social skills and I can easily say I'm a social, outgoing person.