I never know what to say. I’ve read tips and imagined conversations but in the moment I end up saying generic things. If someone is telling me how they’re feeling, I can’t think of a single question that makes sense for the conversation, or I get anxious that it’s wrong, or I end up talking about myself trying to empathize or I end up saying things like “that sucks” or “I hope things get better”. If someone is telling me about a show or a book, I can’t think of anything to say besides “wow sounds crazy.”
I used to be really good at talking to people. Or I thought I was, maybe I wasn’t. Now I just feel like that quote from The Good Place: “You know the sound that a fork makes in the garbage disposal? That’s the sound my brain makes all the time.”
Has anyone experienced this? Do you have advice on how to make your brain work during conversations?
2 comments
Dude I don’t have an answer but I’m in the same boat most of the time my mind will go blank or sometimes my ass will just think while they r taking and loose track of what they are saying. Like a lot of the time I’m just like yeah that makes sense. I’m sorry I’m no help but I feel you man
Don’t think too hard on any extra comments you want to add, just give a genuine answer from how you actually feel about that information. Plain statements don’t inspire many creative answers on the fly.
The real issue here is how to become a good conversationalist, people aren’t as open with what they want to share, so they usually have a lot on their mind when listening to information but they don’t want to share it. If you want to add any comments think about what you are thinking about when listening to the information, then you can let them know what it reminds you of or what you want to tell them.