16 Mar 2013, 4:58 pm
For me, the getting stuck is usually for set phrases like greetings, saying thank you, replying to meaningless social scripts, etc.; when I'm asked "how are you?" I reply "fine". Which is then followed by an awkward silence. Someone once told me that the correct reply would be "how are you?" but that really doesn't make any sense... I just can't get myself to reply that; usually I don't even ask them back after saying I'm fine because I'm not interested in how they feel. Just the knowledge that this is how you're supposed to behave somehow isn't enough to overcome this ... inertia actually seems to be a good word for that.
It's not anxiety-related for me, either. I know how I feel when I'm afraid or nervous. But in those situations the practical part of the script just doesn't run, while the mental part works just fine. I can even imagine replies and reactions to the phrase I'm supposed to say, but that doesn't make it happen. 
Small-talk is fine, mostly, just very tiring. I have something like a tag-sorted catalogue of tried and tested anecdotes and when one of these words pops up in a conversation I tell one of them. Usually that works. For half an hour to an hour I entertain a whole group and then I just collapse.
16 Mar 2013, 5:59 pm
