Small talk is allowed. Not every conversation needs to be a deep dive.

Light conversation is not a failed attempt at a real one, it is its own useful thing. It lets two people establish that they are safe with each other before anything heavier gets offered. Treating every exchange as an opportunity for depth mostly exhausts people and makes them careful around you.

Let a few conversations this week stay exactly as shallow as they arrive. Ask about the weekend, say something about the bus, and leave it there. Depth tends to show up on its own once somebody has decided you are easy to talk to.