You know what i did? Ask questions. You won't believe how long you can keep a conversation going by asking "oh, is X what you would want to do as your career?" or some other arbitrary question, and it is incredibly easy to do. I know exactly how you feel man, i go through the same thing almost everyday and i promise you THIS WILL WORK. I have this coworker whom i was extremely shy around for MONTHS. I would dread going into work when she was on shift because i could barely get a sentence out whenever i was around her, and sounded like a damn fool everytime i tried. I would only see her for like 5 minutes between shifts (she works 2nd, and i work 3rd), but every painfully awkward interaction felt like a millennia, and being left alone with my own thoughts after such a failed interaction was oh so much worse! But one day, i just decided to start asking her about her life and what she likes to do, and she would just go on and on about herself and i would just keep asking follow up questions to whatever she was talking about, or just change the subject entirely if the topic was getting dry, but i would never allow a moment of silence between us (this is something i really wanted to work on all my life, and i was actually pulling it off!). Now she sticks around WELL after her shift has ended and we just talk for hours on end! (she usually doesn't go home until 1 or 2 in the morning!) The kicker? We have SO much in common, it's scary. Like, I've never talked to a person who ALWAYS knew what i was talking about, and would cut me off and finish my thoughts before i could even get them out. That time with her is honestly the thing i look foward to the most during the day. I talk with my other coworkers too, but not like i do with her.

And this happened only because I initiated the conversation with a simple question. I would say i was a fool for never realizing it before, but that's how the depression gets its teeth into ya. So i think of it as finally discovering the social aspect of myself, and I am much happier now because of it. :)