This post is about not succumbing to the pressure to post just for the sake of posting something. If I post three times in a month, I’m
doing well. I feel comfortable with that. The biggest obstacle to posting more
often is that I never know what to talk about, so I ramble on about the first
thing that comes into my head. This also happens in other social
situations—and yes, blogging is every bit as social.
Yeah, as I’m
approaching someone who I see standing alone in a group, I’m thinking of all
the nifty conversation openers I’ve learned through the years—Get them talking about themselves being
at the top of the list—but is that what I do? Noooo. I start blathering on
about some ridiculous nonsense (usually self-deprecating humor delivered in
about three hundred words without a breath between sentences) just to distract
both of us from the awkwardness of talking to someone we are only marginally
acquainted with, if at all. Not that it isn’t a perfectly legitimate way to
socialize—Okay, aside from the wide-eyed, ‘what the heck is wrong with this
chick? gawks—it works well in a forget-about-my-dignity,
maybe-I’ll-never-see-them-again-anyhow sort of way, and it keeps me from having
to come up with something substantial. And if my husband is in the mix, we’ve
been known to devolve into a sideshow. The interaction—and
I use that term loosely—may last less than five minutes—probably less than the
time it took you to read this post. But it exhausts me for the rest of the day…
So, that’s really why I don’t post more often—aside from not
knowing what to write about. Any suggestions? Anyone want to tell me a little
about themselves so I can practice being a good listener?
