SPEAKING VS. WRITING ✍️ ? ?

[Different]

Listen, we all have strengthens and weaknesses that we carry around with us on a daily basis. Sometimes we’re not even aware of it until someone discovers it through some, inadvertent scenario. You’d be surprised to know and learn more about yourself through inadvertent scenarios, or even someone forcing you out of your comfort zone. One on one conversations isn’t always the easiest. So I guess you can say this is why you hear a lot of people tell you that they prefer written communications with someone as opposed to speaking in person; direct communication can be quite uncomfortable and intimidating because you’re so heavily focused on landing that first impression on someone.

I can tell you from experience that I do not speak the same way that I write. I may sound very intellectual online, but that’s only because I’m naturally a good writer and I had to think about what to say, what words to use, and how I’m going to convey my messages to you guys. IRL, if you and I were to bump into each other at a coffee shop or something, then my conversations with you would be different. I’m one of those guys who doesn’t quickly come up with things to say off the top of his head in person. I’m also not someone who can carry on an interesting conversation for hours (in person). You can probably expect to hear the dreaded ums, uhhs, you knows, and perhaps the likes because I’m guilty of using filler words to complete my sentences. It’s a bad habit that I’m learning to grow out of.

You should also know that I’m not very good at explaining stuff to people in person. Online, there’s all sorts of sources that I can do my research on and take advantage of to help me explain something. But in person, if you lack communication skills then you’re going to have a difficult time retrieving information from your long-term memory because you’re feeling so pressured and anxious not to say the wrong thing or stutter. This is also the reason why people prefer to be introverts rather than hanging around their peers every weekend.

You understand how communication works, and you’re smart enough to have an articulate conversation with someone. But when the time comes to meet them during a job interview, a first date, or even just hanging out somewhere, then you freeze up. Why? Because you’re not used to being sociable, your anxiety kicks into high gear, and you’re far too concerned with what they think of you and how you come across to them. This paints the negative notion in your mind telling you that you’re not good enough.

You could easily sit there and think about how you’re going to explain something to me online through social media. But IRL, don’t let me find out that the way you write online doesn’t align with the way you speak to others in person. You see what I’m saying? So at the end of the day, it’s so convenient to glue our asses to that chair behind a computer desk and chat all day long, but then once we meet in person, it’s a totally different tone. With some of us, conversations may not exactly be delivered to one another in the same way as communicating with each other online.