Conversation

Because of my job and personality in general, I often lead conversation. By this I mean that I kick-off meetings, make it a point to remember names/dates/events so that I can use them in future conversation, ask a lot of questions, etc. This flows from my work life and into my social life. It doesn’t bother me much though – people like to talk about themselves and I enjoy learning about people.

As a result, I'm always very aware when someone else is doing this to me and I'm talking a lot. First, I notice because I'm not thinking as much during the conversation. My mind isn’t jumping to the next thing we have in common or general thing (ie movies, news, weather) that is going on in the world around us. I don’t need to think when talking about myself – I just simply answer. It’s very relaxing to be on the giving side of the conversation.

The second thing I feel is guilty that I'm not “doing my part” to carry the conversation. I look for a break that I can turn it back to them.

This weekend Jenna did this to me in the car. Jim’s aunt and cousin did it to me when we went to Spencerville for Christmas. Granted there are a pretty decent amount of things a person could ask me about – my new job, teaching, pregnancy, Nicole, house projects, etc. – but I'm starting to feel like I'm a bad friend for not reciprocating but man is it nice to be “lazy” in a conversation once in a while.