When you consider yourself a social butterfly, verbal constipation can be one of the most unnatural and clumsy experiences. If you're pretty confident in your social abilities, you're not likely to arm yourself appropriately for it. It probably doesn't occur frequently enough for you to have any genuine concern, but when it does hit you, you're overwhelmed with regret. One thing that throws me off is the "how's life?" greeting.
How's life?
I... what? Good. It's great. Well, not great. But like, its OK. Don't get me wrong, some parts are great, and then some are like just 'meh'. Life's... Its OK. I mean... Wait, what do you mean?
I don't know about you guys, but the girth on that question intimidates me like nothing else. And replying with "good" never seems to satisfy either parties. How detailed do you want me to get? How much should I divulge? Are we close enough for me to open the pages of my Life Book and update you? Do we even have enough time? Do you just want the positives, or can I throw some negatives in as well?
When you leave an opening the size of Grand Canyon you run the risk of tumbling into territory that might be a little too personal. Before you know it, you've gone from co-worker-level-friends to I-know-a-little-more-than-your-chemist. Then you ask them how they are, and they say, "Yeah, you win some and you lose some. You know how it is." No. Not really. I just spent the last 20 minutes telling you about my neighbour's Pomeranian. I have no idea "how it is".
Perhaps its just easier to stick to one compartment of your life and if they want details on the others, they can ask. I guess that's a fix? But still, even with this min-prep, it's hard to constantly be on your guard for that expansive question. Usually I just laugh and shake my head, as if we had some mutual understanding on what that meant. It never really works out, so I guess I should stop.
No comments:
Post a Comment