I live for writing recipes. It is probably one of my favorite parts of my job (maybe after taste-testing). Getting into the kitchen, hands deep in all the different ingredients. Documenting my techniques and movements. Concocting, trying over and over until I have the dish that I picture in my mind.
What is the recipe for communication? I’ve been mixing and matching and trying things out, but I seem to always fall a little short here. How do you take two (or more) people, who think differently, and allow them to communicate on the same level. I majored in communications (journalism) and I love to sit and talk, but truly communicating how I feel at any given moment, is seriously challenge. I clam up. I shut down. My brain does not want to cooperate.
This past weekend, I started the move to the small town my boyfriend lives in, and into his house. We got through the stressful part of getting the truck loaded and then unloaded, but then I freaked out. Not like crazy lady in a store loses her mind and knocks over all the wine bottles, or anything, but just a serious panic attack of “what the hell are you doing?”
We were putting away things and the stress and crazy of what was happening just overloaded my system. I’m not going back to my cute little house…I’m staying here in the sudo-frat house. AHHH?! Poor Mr. Paul Child had no idea what was going on in my little head. I was a basket of tears, headache, and sadness.
It took me all week to figure out how to tell him why I was super stressed out and frazzled. And I had to do it in an email! Sometimes, I just don’t trust my voice to speak the words that I know I need to say. I’ll write in my head, all the things I need to say. I’ll practice and practice, but then when it comes to delivering my speech (I’ve also figured out my answers to what the other person could potentially say), I get tongue-tied and locked up in my thoughts. Plus, I’m worried that the sassy voice in my head, will actually come out as a bitch, as it did when Mr. Paul Child showed me the moose sheets his mom bought him. Err, yeah, moose sheet humor is NOT appreciated, so maybe I should stick to email, where there is a “delete” button and a “cancel” button.
Is it okay to communicate via email? Does it always have to be face to face for the serious stuff? Is the recipe for communication like your mom’s spaghetti sauce, where everyone has their own version? Should I really try to learn how to talk this stuff out? Maybe I should have a glass of wine first? Can I have notecards? Please share your recipe with me, so I can concoct my version of communication.
