Phones are great, don't get me wrong. I can update my family from wherever they are in the country, I can connect with people that are all around the world, and I can play awesome games when I get bored in class
.
But I am the worst texter. For some reason there's a disconnect between the moment when I get a text and the subsequent moment that I reply. It's always a couple of days in between and a half-hearted rely. I'm trying to do better. I know.
Last night I was trying to work on the whole 'you text me and then I text you right back' conversation with my friend and I was feeling pretty good about my phenomenally fast reply time. I was getting the hang of it! But then, the conversation took a turn that I was not expecting when my friend became really defensive about something I had replied about.
What had I said? I had no idea it was going to be interpreted that way, that I would get that kind of reaction! It took the rest of the night (and a phone call) to fix what I had said, explaining my thought process behind that specific reply and figuring out a more purposeful way to communicate my thoughts to this friend.
I took a lot from that. Besides feeling justified now for not being the greatest texter (I'm thinking now it's a great way to avoid future situations like this...), I thought a lot about the importance of saying and communicating with purpose each thing that comes out of my mouth. If I can remember that, things I say to people will be more tactful, meaningful, and will better add to the conversation.
With that said, I want to better think about things before I say them. I will process what I am going to say first instead of blurting out my first reaction or thought. It seems like an obvious thing to do when conversing, but it's easy for me to slip into an autopilot-like mode and not invest as much as I should in what I say.
#challengeaccepted
.
But I am the worst texter. For some reason there's a disconnect between the moment when I get a text and the subsequent moment that I reply. It's always a couple of days in between and a half-hearted rely. I'm trying to do better. I know.
Last night I was trying to work on the whole 'you text me and then I text you right back' conversation with my friend and I was feeling pretty good about my phenomenally fast reply time. I was getting the hang of it! But then, the conversation took a turn that I was not expecting when my friend became really defensive about something I had replied about.
What had I said? I had no idea it was going to be interpreted that way, that I would get that kind of reaction! It took the rest of the night (and a phone call) to fix what I had said, explaining my thought process behind that specific reply and figuring out a more purposeful way to communicate my thoughts to this friend.
I took a lot from that. Besides feeling justified now for not being the greatest texter (I'm thinking now it's a great way to avoid future situations like this...), I thought a lot about the importance of saying and communicating with purpose each thing that comes out of my mouth. If I can remember that, things I say to people will be more tactful, meaningful, and will better add to the conversation.
With that said, I want to better think about things before I say them. I will process what I am going to say first instead of blurting out my first reaction or thought. It seems like an obvious thing to do when conversing, but it's easy for me to slip into an autopilot-like mode and not invest as much as I should in what I say.
#challengeaccepted
No comments:
Post a Comment