Communication Strengths & Weaknesses

For this little exercise I chose to interview my mom because she has known me for a long time, needless to say, and also because our personalities tend to clash quite often so I thought it might be interesting to see what she thought about my communication skills. I also interviewed my best friend John who I've known since my freshman year of high school. I thought he would be a good person to ask since I'm very open with him, for the most part.

Strengths: My mom said that I was overall a good communicator. I know how to get my point across without trying to force it too much on someone else. Also, I have a sense of how to talk to people as individuals, I'm very sensitive to different people's personalities. John said that I was funny, that I could liven a conversation up (when appropriate) without overdoing it. He also said that I tend to choose my words carefully and I am very confident in what I say (not to be confused with arrogance)

Weaknesses: My mom said that I tend to roll my eyes a lot when I'm talking to someone else which isn't the first time I've heard that. She said that even if I'm not trying to be rude or disrespectful the looks I give could sometimes be misconstrude. She also said that when I don't want to talk I have a snappy tone and I give one word answers. John said that I tend to overdramatize sometimes or blow things a little bit out of proportion. He also said that many times I take everything that people say too much to heart.

How I will try to improve: I know I'm a chronic eye-roller, I get it from my dad. I don't mean to come off rude or disrespectful when I'm talking to people so I'm gonna try to make a concious effort to keep my face pleasant. I'm also learning slowly how to pick my battles. I'm going to continue to try to hear what people have to say and let that sit a little and really break it down instead of being upset or angry and blowing them up on the spot. As for taking things to heart, that's a very tough one for me since I find words to be very powerful (it's all we have left) and I find it hard not to get upset when people I care about throw rude and hurtful words around because you can never take back what was said.

My mom and I when we went away together

"Four things come not back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity"- Proverb