So I wrote the a post back in May and titled it Pt. 1 and said it was “to be continued”. I have no idea why I did. Did I really think that I would come to some conclusion later or that it needed to be part of a series? Anyway, I left it open ended, so I feel I should bring the subject to a state of closure. This is in part because I have gained some new perspective in the area of communicating with people. The other reason is I hate leaving things unfinished.
As I reread my initial post several things stood out to me. One, why was I so hung up on getting people's opinions about things? Two, why didn't I formulate a plan to try and change the results I had been getting? Three, why did I not realize that the problem I was experiencing was a direct result from my poor listening skills?
When it comes to getting people's opinions I suppose that I am just interested in what people have to say. Sadly I think that, especially at the time of writing that post, I liked asking people questions, not so much because I wanted to know what they thought but because I could use my questions as a platform to introduce what I thought in order to showcase my knowledge to other people so I would look smart. I have a lot of pride in my knowledge and I used it to try and gain people's respect and attention. This method was not a conscious effort. I really did believe that I cared about other people and their opinions, when in fact, I had subconsciously learned a way to puff myself up and show off what I knew to others in an attempt to gain their affection.
To address my second question, I do not think I believed that I could be the major or main cause of the problem. I saw people’s lack of response as their problem and blamed it on what I thought to be passivity within my generation for talking about important issues. In reality, I can now see that I was/am a major part of the problem and that it comes from being a selfish conversationalist and a sub-par listener.
