Are you unable to hold on to your words?

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marshall
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12 Feb 2009, 2:00 am

This happens to me all the time when I'm in a group setting. I'll be listening to someone talk and I'll come up with a question or comment in my head in response to something they said. It'll be like the words are right there, ready to flow, but then the person either continues on for too long or someone else buts in without giving me a chance. Eventually something distracts me, destroys my focus, and I lose those precious words that were previously held so precariously on the tip of my tongue. The thought itself isn't necessarily forgotten but the words I had in mind for starting it up are gone. Then my brain gets all discombobulated trying to reformulate the lost words – so much that I become completely tongue-tied by the time a break in the conversation finally comes.

I've found the only way I can get a word in is by interrupting as soon as I think of something to say. Otherwise I'll never get a chance.

I don't know if this is a universal autistic trait as the other people on the spectrum I've been to meetings with don't seem to have this problem. Most of them just bowl right over me. Is this something unique to introverts?

Sometimes I feel like most of my problems have little to do with the theory of mind / empathy stuff. My brain is just not effective at spontaneously coming up with the words to say at the precise right moment and I don't see any way to consciously fix this. It's the number one reason I'm crap at socializing. I'm always on the sidelines and people think I'm more shy than I actually am.



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12 Feb 2009, 2:16 am

marshall wrote:
This happens to me all the time when I'm in a group setting. I'll be listening to someone talk and I'll come up with a question or comment in my head in response to something they said. It'll be like the words are right there, ready to flow, but then the person either continues on for too long or someone else buts in without giving me a chance. Eventually something distracts me, destroys my focus, and I lose those precious words that were previously held so precariously on the tip of my tongue. The thought itself isn't necessarily forgotten but the words I had in mind for starting it up are gone. Then my brain gets all discombobulated trying to reformulate the lost words – so much that I become completely tongue-tied by the time a break in the conversation finally comes.


I have the same problem. Often my thoughts just aren't quick enough but it seems like even when I try to respond right away someone speaks right over me. Once I am interrupted the thought is lost. I also have a problem with repeating myself. I can say something the way that I mean to say it but when someone asks me to repeat myself it comes out making little to no sense the second time around. And this happens a lot since I have a quiet monotone voice.


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12 Feb 2009, 3:35 am

Guess were all in that same boat rowing up s**t's creek! I can have something amazing run through my head(I write) and if I dont write/say it as Im thinking it, I'll lose it completely. I dont know how many times I had the greatest idea fall through the cracks in my brain.

In conversation, I just steamroll past people now. Its not worth my agony to have good things to say(in my opinion) and not be heard. I dont tolerate that disrespect now, I dont get spoken over. I say hey, I was talking if someone talks over me(aka make them feel like an ass which they are).

The one thing Ive learned is that if you speak with character/attitude(not just emphasis), people listen more. No one cares what you say really, its how you say it. I dont even filter my thoughts anymore. I figure if I thought it was funny, they will too. And if they dont think its funny, its cause they actually think I believe it, and thats ignorant.

But like the 2nd poster, my mind never repeats itself. If I said something and you ask me to repeat, it'll be reworded. In fact, when I write, its almost painful for me to use the same word anywhere in it twice unless they're words like I, have, or/and, you know common words.

but yes, being distracted while talking and or waiting to talk causes my mind to go blank like a clean slate.



postpaleo
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12 Feb 2009, 4:51 am

It's why I tend to dominate a discussion, if I don't I'm lost in space. I also tend to interrupt a conversion as well, it feels like if I don't, I'll never get a comment in on the current subject and again, because I'll have lost focus or get attracted by something else. Both of those comes out to others as being very rude. With some private conversations with some here I understand what's going on and don't find it rude at all. But just like me they're attracted to the little shiny things and when I pick up the conversation again, it can be from out of left field and they're into the flow. Certainly not all, some think very linear, needs to be an order in it. So I tend to step on toes and really not mean to.

Should have added, if the conversation interests me at all. Get me on an obsession and I'll never shut up. They just walk away shaking their heads in disbelief.


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pandd
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12 Feb 2009, 5:29 am

This is certainly one of my problems in conversation, it's probably an "executive function" issue or some such.



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12 Feb 2009, 8:00 am

pandd wrote:
This is certainly one of my problems in conversation, it's probably an "executive function" issue or some such.


Not only,
it's also knowing how to recognize that wonderful glories moment when you should speak, such that you don't interrupt anyone else... :?



marshall
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12 Feb 2009, 12:53 pm

Aleph0 wrote:
pandd wrote:
This is certainly one of my problems in conversation, it's probably an "executive function" issue or some such.


Not only,
it's also knowing how to recognize that wonderful glories moment when you should speak, such that you don't interrupt anyone else... :?

The main problem is my brain is never in sync with those "glorious moments" as when they do occur I often have nothing ready to say. When something pops into my head someone else is inevitably talking. I'm forced to either interrupt or temporarily ignore what the person is saying to avoid distraction - so as to not lose the words/thoughts that I'm desperately trying to hold on to.



mitharatowen
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12 Feb 2009, 12:57 pm

Omg the worst part is when I have something really important to say to someone and I say it to myself in my head and I come up with the best words that really express how I feel and everything sounds great.. then when I go to try to say it or write it down.. they're gone and my attempt to recreate them is not nearly as perfect as the first one :(



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12 Feb 2009, 1:00 pm

I know that well.

That's why I went into the ADHD testing.

For one, I blurt out answers long before the other is finished and I find it to be real hard to wait.

And then, there's also the issue with that I forget whatever thought has come to my mind if I do not say it right away. Even if the other just finishes their sentence I have already forgotten what I wanted to say in that short moment.


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12 Feb 2009, 1:08 pm

They keep slipping from my fingers.



sartresue
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12 Feb 2009, 1:21 pm

postpaleo wrote:
It's why I tend to dominate a discussion, if I don't I'm lost in space. I also tend to interrupt a conversion as well, it feels like if I don't, I'll never get a comment in on the current subject and again, because I'll have lost focus or get attracted by something else. Both of those comes out to others as being very rude. With some private conversations with some here I understand what's going on and don't find it rude at all. But just like me they're attracted to the little shiny things and when I pick up the conversation again, it can be from out of left field and they're into the flow. Certainly not all, some think very linear, needs to be an order in it. So I tend to step on toes and really not mean to.

Should have added, if the conversation interests me at all. Get me on an obsession and I'll never shut up. They just walk away shaking their heads in disbelief.


At a loss for words topic

8O :) That's it :!: :!:

This is why I write, so everything comes out more on topic. I am very unpopular due to exactly what postpaleo wrote. And I do have a rather strong personality. Better for me to be my own group, and this is what happens. But I can live with it. :)


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gina-ghettoprincess
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12 Feb 2009, 1:35 pm

I'm the opposite, my mind writes stories, emails, and diary entries and saves them until I have the chance to actually write them down.


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marshall
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12 Feb 2009, 1:39 pm

Sora wrote:
For one, I blurt out answers long before the other is finished and I find it to be real hard to wait.

:lol: I used to do this with my parents, only I'd blurt something out before they even asked. I'd say "yes dad, I'll mow the lawn" right after he inhaled but before he'd even spoken a word. I'd try to preemptively guess what he was going to ask before he'd even said it. He didn't take it well.

I also get impatient when people take too long to say something. I think I might have a form of ADD but without the hyperactivity as I'm pretty introverted.



gina-ghettoprincess
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12 Feb 2009, 1:53 pm

marshall wrote:
Sora wrote:
For one, I blurt out answers long before the other is finished and I find it to be real hard to wait.

:lol: I used to do this with my parents, only I'd blurt something out before they even asked. I'd say "yes dad, I'll mow the lawn" right after he inhaled but before he'd even spoken a word. I'd try to preemptively guess what he was going to ask before he'd even said it. He didn't take it well.

I also get impatient when people take too long to say something. I think I might have a form of ADD but without the hyperactivity as I'm pretty introverted.


I agree, my grandma has this REALLY annoying habit of taking about three hours to say one sentence. You always know exactly what she's going to say, but politeness means you have to stand and wait for her to get it all out. The rest of my family are annoyed by it too, not just me.


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12 Feb 2009, 2:19 pm

This happens to me all the time....I have developed a supposedly annoying habit of interrupting people when they're droning on too long, not trying to be rude, whether it's perceived that way or not, I'm just trying not to forget what it was I wanted to say.



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12 Feb 2009, 4:06 pm

marshall wrote:
Aleph0 wrote:
it's also knowing how to recognize that wonderful glories moment when you should speak, such that you don't interrupt anyone else... :?

When something pops into my head someone else is inevitably talking. I'm forced to either interrupt or temporarily ignore what the person is saying to avoid distraction - so as to not lose the words/thoughts that I'm desperately trying to hold on to.

These are both true for me. I think to some extent when I do choose to ignore what is being said (so as not to lose my words/thoughts), this interferes with differentiating between pauses during the other person's speaking, and when they've actually stopped speaking (and it's my turn).