skeeterhawk wrote:
Occasionally when I have been admonished to stop repeating myself, I realize I am indeed repeating exactly what I said previously. However, most of the times that friends and family suggest I am being repetitious, I see it as something fundamentally different. I am adding relatively small changes with each go-through. In math, this process is called iteration, and is a fundamental tool. When I am doing this, I am not stuck but am working through something in a detailed and careful way.
It seems like there could be a LOT of misunderstanding surrounding this issue if it is not limited to just me. Yes indeed, iteration may be too detail-oriented for many NTs, but it is clearly NOT some non-functional repetition.
What do other folks think about this? Is it just me? Am I kidding myself? Is perseveration a mistaken description of a useful, if uncommon, form of reasoning?
I do it too. People complain about it too. I've decided that the best thing I can do is, instead of iterating out loud around people, I iterate in writing, in my journal. If I notice I've mentioned something at least 2 ways, I try to stop and say "what do you think?" (yes, I count.) Sometimes I don't notice, and people stop me and I just say "oh, sorry." Because trying to explain why I was explaining a different way is useless with NTs.
27 Feb 2008, 9:48 am
