I went through a lot of this too - it's kind of hard to explain this, but the goal isn't to take something away from the conversation, the goal is just to have the conversation. You don't have to be interesting, you don't have to be funny or charming. Just talk about things that are at hand, no matter how inane they are. Talk about the weather, talk about that new thing that happened in your part of town. Talk about a bird that just flew by.