Day seven

Day Seven: Something about which people seem to compliment you

 I don't like to talk about myself. Especially not if you like to talk about yourself. I'd rather sit back and listen to you tell me about your ex and your ex's ex and your kids and your dog and...well, you get the point. In listening rather than talking, people often find me to be a worthy confidant...someone to tell the things that they can't tell anyone else. Eva calls it bus-stop syndrome....I can sit at a bus stop and get the life story of the person next to me while I wait for the bus.
It cultivates empathy, compassion, hearing so many stories. I never know what you're going to say next, and since I say so little, I come across as understanding and unjudging. Maybe I am. Maybe I genuinely don't care enough to judge. Not "don't care" in a don't-care-about-you way, but in a fuck-society-and-its-norms way. Hell, maybe I don't give enough of a shit about your personal story to care, but that's not really it...I just listen. I don't think about it...I just listen. If you ask for advice, I give it, otherwise I keep my mouth shut.
So I guess it's...a quiet listening that people often tell me I'm so good at. People like to talk about themselves (hey, I'm doing a 30 day blog challenge, aren't I?). I sit still long enough to let them. They like that, I guess.


And for your nightly song...an old classic. Simon and Garfunkel all the way. "The sound of Silence" Lyrics