Today’s prompt: Make a photo that represents something that you aspire to be or do one day.

This prompt couldn’t be better timed. Recently I have realized that I’m not as good a listener as I perceived myself to be. This is very upsetting! I always thought that I was somewhat gifted at helping my friends and family deal with their problems when they come to me to talk about them. And while I still think that I’m pretty great at this, over the past couple weeks I have been noticing that I don’t actually listen to people on a regular basis. When there isn’t a clear problem or topic that I’m interested in helping solve or being a part of, I tune the conversation out.

My roommate, Brittany, actually brought part of this problem to my attention when she called me out on my inability to absorb any part of a conversation she is having with me if I am simultaneously texting someone on my phone. And now that she has pointed this out (and continues to point it out), I have become aware that I actually respond to her even though I have no clue what she said. What’s more disturbing is that after the fact, I have no recollection of what she said or any of my responses. Its like I have a conversational blackout! I’m now trying to work on this. (Mostly, I just try not to text while conversing in real life. That cuts out part of the problem.)

Another issue I have with listening is that I predict the course of people’s train of thought and interrupt them to respond to what I imagine they will ask before they ask it. Generally this turns out badly. Often, they do not take the course I want them to and they have to correct me and ask me what they actually wanted an answer to. So that’s annoying and makes me look like a fool. I’m now also trying to work on this.

Weirdly enough, in my small group communications class we are now on the topic of listening. This always creeps me out when real life topics converge with class topics! The up-side of this eerie coincidence is that I am learning helpful ways to make myself a better listener in everyday situations rather than just in specific conversations.

So long story long…. I aspire to one day be a better listener.