Category: Thoughts

Yesterday, my sister was low key panicking as she texted her senior about buying unused past papers. “What do I reply? Does this sound weird? Jie, help me!” I thought she wasn’t close with her senior so things were getting awkward or something. She usually is the confident one. She usually advises me on what to text back. (Goes to show when you text a girl, you’re never talking to just one person haha) Anyway, turns out the senior is her volleyball mate and they know each other pretty well. Hmm… so why do we do this? Why do we panic/get awkward so easily? Why do we overthink about what to say?

For me, I also panic a lot, overthink things, end up procrastinating and then reply people late. Even in real life, I find I have to give myself a pep talk and plan what to say before I go talk to someone. Perhaps it’s the perfectionist in me. Perhaps I’m used to having time to think about what to say just like when I text. Is that why people are getting anxious when talking in person? Is it because we need time to plan our responses?

I’m not sure, but at least for me, I think the rise of texting is just making me shyer than I already am. I can hide behind a screen, I can ask someone to help me come up with a response, I can retype what I want to say over and over. People say there’s no rehearsal for life, but now with texting you can rehearse and practice what to say however many times you wish.

So what now? Well, I think I’m going to live like when I was little, when things were simpler. Remember in kindergarten? When you wanted to make friends you just walked up to them and started playing together. Simple. Nowadays, there are lots of articles and videos about how to make friends at university. Have we forgotten something that used to come so naturally? No, we haven’t. I believe it’s just burried inside of us. Humans are social creatures, being with others is in our blood.

So what if you say something less than perfect? So what if the situation gets awkward? No one ever got hurt from awkwardness. Don’t think to much, just dive in, just say hi, just hit send. As my teacher likes to say, “Just do it.”