[pastrami_panda]

Since almost everyone mentioned some form of listening, I will add this: dare to laugh. A lot. It's so relaxing and nice to spend time with people that realize that when you're socializing it's one of the rare and almost sacred times when we can just goof around and have fun. Having a laugh ready to fire off will spread like wildfire in a circle of people you're interacting with. You might feel that it's contrived at first, but then after 30 minutes you'll laugh genuinely along with everyone else and people in that circle will loosen up immensely. I don't know why we're so conditioned to have small talk at hand whenever, but a laugh at hand at whenever is almost unheard of. I dunno, I might live in a boring country.

[Micoloth]

I don’t know what country you are from, in my country laughing is never a thing people are supposed to not do.

On the other hand, since it was always very not natural for me, i’ve used this strategy (basically laughing on command- that is, actually, fake laughing) for many of my teenage years, and it has taken several years and much thought for me to realize that it was making me really miserable.

Now i tend more towards not forcing myself to do anything that wouldn’t be natural from me, and this has made me much more satisfied with myself (even if, sure, simply growing up would have that effect anyway..)

If what you are actually saying is you are naturally wired to laugh a lot and you were actually restraining yourself, well then sure, but then also i’m sure you never had much soft skills problems...

[pastrami_panda]

I hear you, but I will persist in the point I was trying to make. Laughing takes warmup. You might hear an excellent joke and not even snicker at it, but given the proper mindset where you're attentive to the setup, the expectation, and you're just caught off guard, it's so nice to be able to enjoy that moment. It's easily missed.