Conversation breeds conversation

The more you talk with people, the more you have to talk about

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that conversation breeds conversation. The more you talk
with a person, the more you have to say to

(00:24):
each other. Far from exhausting topics, When you know about
a person's daily life, you are able to pick up
on these threads and expand from there. So plenty of
people with full lives would like to have closer relationships
with their extended families, but when they find time in

(00:45):
their busy schedules to get together, they sometimes discover that
they don't have much to talk about. After a lackluster
family dinner, you might decide that you are just not
that close to the relatives and downgrade your relationship to
a we will see you at Thanksgiving sort of thing.
But I think there is another option. My Best of

(01:07):
Both World's co host Sarah hart Unger noted that with
her extended family, she has found that the more you talk,
the more you have to say. She has a group
text going with her family where they share details of
daily life, so when she sees her family, they already
know about their recent search for a car. Or her

(01:28):
foray into pilates, and she knows the headlines of their
lives too. All of this suggests conversation topics that can
be continued. Now. I know that group texts could get
a bad reputation. It is true that some people hijack
them or post a lot, but you can be judicious

(01:49):
about these things. You don't have to include every relative
on every group text. Maybe you have one for the
few that you are closest to and include them on
the details of your life. If you haven't had one going,
maybe just try starting one. You might have to do

(02:10):
the first few posts, or be strategic about posting things
that loop the others in, like mentioning your kid's dance
class and asking your sister if she remembers the tap
class you two took together on a thread with all
your siblings. But this is kind of like starting a fire.
Sometimes it takes some work, but then it can go

(02:31):
for a while. If you are not into texting, maybe
there's something else that works. Emails might so do quick
phone calls with some relatives. You might worry about not
being able to get off the phone when you have
a million things to do, but you can, in fact
start each conversation with boundaries. I'm picking up Jane at

(02:52):
soccer and need to go as soon as she gets
in the car, but I just wanted to check in
that sort of thing. But when you talk frequently text frequently,
you start to get enough details that conversations can actually happen.
I have had the happy experience a few times in
my life of meeting people in person who have listened

(03:15):
to lots of my podcasts, so they know enough details
of my life that they automatically share things from their
lives that they know I will find interesting, and they
ask questions that they know I'll probably have something to
say about. It makes the conversation so much easier versus
when you don't know much about each other, so you're

(03:36):
always just grasping for common ground. Oh, Cleveland, I was
in Cleveland once. It can be rough knowing lots of details.
Let's you skip all that. A group chat or email
thread lets you get to that happy place. So if
you want to have something to talk about with the

(03:58):
people in your life, unicate with them more frequently and
share more specifics. Real conversation now makes real conversation later
easier and richer. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.

(04:28):
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,

(04:50):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.