My friends have been joking for years about how "awkward" I am. Ha, ha, very funny, guys. It's usually just a joke, but then there are times where I just don't know what to say to people.
About a month ago, I moved home from my first year of college. I started attending my home young adult ward. The first activity I went to, I was lost. I literally couldn't remember how to talk to people. Sounds silly, right? But it's true. The explanation I came up with was this:
For the past school year, I had been living with a bunch of other college freshmen, surrounded by people who were basically experiencing the same thing I was. It's relatively easy to start a conversation with these people, there are pretty standard topics that we can all relate to. But once I was back to being surrounded by people who are different ages, go to different schools, and are mostly in a different stage of life than I am, I couldn't think of anything to say.
While this seemed like a pretty valid explanation for a while, I finally discovered an even better answer. It was at another ward activity earlier this week. I talked to one of my old friends a couple times, and this is what I started with:
"I think I just kind of hit a deer" and "I really want a gazebo".
These are NOT normal conversation starters. No wonder I can't talk to normal people!
I either need to learn how to talk like a normal person, or just accept that I'm going to talk like a weirdo. I think the weirdo thing sounds pretty good, what do you guys think?
My friend, my friend... I feel the same way sometimes! I mean come on! (this is Christine [Kris] by the way). For a while, I was extremely disappointed in myself that people would react to my weirdness in a negative way, but the reality is that I'm not the problem. Sometimes it's difficult to conform to the standards of proper conversation etiquette. My advice? I say you just let the good times roll and don't even care about it (that's what trips me up mostly- when I care too much about how I should be in front of others). I don't know if you have the same issue, but I know when I let go of what I'm doing "wrong" and develop genuine interest for the lives of the people around me, I lose myself in caring for others, hearing about their lives instead of ruining mine. Hazah!
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