Why Effective Communication Skills are Important for Me

      Hi, I’m Ryan*. As far as I can remember, talking to people has always been a scary obstacle I have to face. The same goes for writing a letter, leaving a message, or even just having to face someone and listen to them. Yet I have thoughts I want to share with people. This frustrates me.

   Humans are social creatures. At the heart of human social interaction lies words, but communication is not just about words. There is so much more to communication than just words, if one pauses to think about it. As humans, we primarily rely on words to communicate, but we also rely on many non-verbal cues. Gestures, the tone of voice, and the method of communication – these are just a few of many factors that play a role in communication. To me, effective communication requires a degree of mastery over these factors.

   To what end? Why bother so much about communication?

   How do you feel when you cannot get someone to understand what you were saying, or when someone misunderstands you? I can say for myself that when I put in the effort to communicate with someone, and later find it was fruitless, it feels disappointing. However, quite apart from that, miscommunication can cause a lot more damage beyond petty hurt feelings. For example, misperceived malice could make a relationship sour; instructions followed to a tee (apparently) but misunderstood renders all effort in a project naught.

  Like it or not, we live in a social world. Realistically speaking, being able to communicate effectively is one of the most valuable skills one can have. If nothing else, at least the ability to get your point across – to communicate one’s thoughts – is worth it. That is why effective communication skills are important for me.

*Not real name.

First Post for Posting's Sake

Today, I woke up rather late because my class started at 12pm. I had a nice long sleep. I arrived a little late to class because the bus from my area runs infrequently, and later on, I couldn't get on a shuttle bus because it was full. I blame myself, but I also blame the lack of buses. Blaming myself makes me feel bad about myself, and I have been feeling bad about myself for too long, so I decided to blame the buses only. However, I feel bad for blaming the buses, and ended up blaming myself again.

But then again, I already live quite near. It still took more than 1 hour to get to class. It seems maybe just a bit ridiculous, so I decided to hack it all and just enjoy the fact that I got to sleep longer this morning.

: )

I wonder if this post should be deleted later. I'll leave that to my future self to decide. Good luck, future self. If you do delete me, please know that I totally understand and empathise with you, and I hold no grudges. Whenever that may be, I wish you good health and happiness. You are doing a fine job staying alive. Just keep breathing. If this message is being read to you by someone else, I hope you regain your senses soon.