Well, it's great to see how my thread has developed. There has been some fantastic advice here and there's some comfort in knowing there are others sharing my experiences.
I can pretty much agree with everything said so far:
I need to be asking more questions
but;
the questions I ask should come from a different context i.e. one of interest rather than for the sake of avoiding silence.
therefore..
I need to be asking the right questions
By 'right questions' I somehow need to...for want of a better analogy 'flip to the back, check the blurb and see if the book is worth reading'.
If I can develop a way to do this, I can see whether someone is 'worth' talking to. ('worth' it with regards to whether we can offer each other any value...interest etc)
I must admit that sometimes I do feel that I don't have much value to offer others, couple this with me coming from the wrong context and I'm in a situation where I don'l feel I've got anything to offer and it's therefore my fault we're in an awkward silence!
I can see the absurdity of it now..If I don't pinpoint topics of value to us it's not possible for us to share a conversation and there will be an inevitable silence.
So, a change of context is a start but not the whole deal....
over to you guys, my head hurts!
|