If you're like me, you might have trouble telling someone how you feel, and I'm not even talking about romantically. I'm talking about every day situations, like when your friends are going through a hard time and they look to you for advice, maybe your mom is upset and can't find a way through it, maybe it's you whose feeling lost and you start to come off in a way that really isn't you, and when you feel like you have to explain yourself, words fail. There's no way that you can try to capture everything you're feeling into something that makes sense to anyone else but yourself. So what do we turn to?
One of the things I've noticed in my life is that I can't speak well. Now, I'm not illiterate, even though sometimes it may sound that way, but I can have something set in my head, everything I need to say, but once it's time to say it, poof it's gone. Nothing is there anymore and all of a sudden, everything I wanted to say, big words, smart transitions, ordered thinking, it's all gone and all that comes out is rambling, confusion and embarrassment. How can anyone possibly escape this?
Well, I haven't come up with anything to fix chronic word vomit yet, but I did figure out a way to avoid it. Write a letter. I may not be able to convey my true feelings out loud, but I sure can write them down. Writing a letter is the perfect way to get down everything you want to say whether it's to someone else or even yourself. You can write letters at your own pace, really figure out what it is you want to say and don't want to say and not have to deal with the rambling that would've happened before. You don't even have to read this letter out loud. On top of chronic word vomit, it can be easy to be embarrassed when you're trying to explain how you really feel, so deliver your letter and then simply walk away. It's always easier to put the ball in someone else's court.
What happens when you have nothing to say? There have been instances when I have been left absolutely speechless, like couldn't even think of something, anything to say about anything. In these times, silence is really all that matters. Whether you're fighting with a friend or someone in your life is going through a traumatic event, I know I'm always worried about saying the wrong thing. And nothing would hurt more than saying the wrong thing, so in these times just staying silent is what's best. Fights will pass and they get better on their own. When life hands you hard times, you don't need a bunch of words spat at you, you need to know you have support if you need it and someone who will listen, not speak. When words fail, silence speaks.
