TALKING HURTS US

It’s Been Pure Crap Talking To Me

How to enjoy almost every conversation

Daniel Williams
Human Parts
Published in
7 min readJul 12, 2024

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by author

I said to my therapist, “Most conversations make me feel like a failure, like I’m a rough-hewn piece of shit. Is there a way to actually have fun in conversations?”

“There is,” he said, then he gave me a method.

I’ve tried it three times.

Three times, it has worked.

And though I’m nervous it’ll eventually fail like all other methods, the results have been so interesting, I can’t wait to try again.

by author

My father and grandfather don’t have my problem. They love talking to people. They love it so much they do the unthinkable and make it happen on purpose. Grampa will be on some airplane, look over at the person sitting next to him, and just talk.

This is insane.

  • What if the person starts talking back and doesn’t stop?
  • How do I make them stop?
  • Or what if they think I’m boring?
  • I’d rather they were murdered by me than bored of me.

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Daniel Williams
Human Parts

A poverty-stricken, soft Batman by night. Illustrator and writing teacher by day. Previously: McSweeney’s, Slackjaw.