Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that conversation breeds conversation. The more you talk
Speaker 1: with a person, the more you have to say to
Speaker 1: each other. Far from exhausting topics, When you know about
Speaker 1: a person's daily life, you are able to pick up
Speaker 1: on these threads and expand from there. So plenty of
Speaker 1: people with full lives would like to have closer relationships
Speaker 1: with their extended families, but when they find time in
Speaker 1: their busy schedules to get together, they sometimes discover that
Speaker 1: they don't have much to talk about. After a lackluster
Speaker 1: family dinner, you might decide that you are just not
Speaker 1: that close to the relatives and downgrade your relationship to
Speaker 1: a we will see you at Thanksgiving sort of thing.
Speaker 1: But I think there is another option. My Best of
Speaker 1: Both World's co host Sarah hart Unger noted that with
Speaker 1: her extended family, she has found that the more you talk,
Speaker 1: the more you have to say. She has a group
Speaker 1: text going with her family where they share details of
Speaker 1: daily life, so when she sees her family, they already
Speaker 1: know about their recent search for a car. Or her
Speaker 1: foray into pilates, and she knows the headlines of their
Speaker 1: lives too. All of this suggests conversation topics that can
Speaker 1: be continued. Now. I know that group texts could get
Speaker 1: a bad reputation. It is true that some people hijack
Speaker 1: them or post a lot, but you can be judicious
Speaker 1: about these things. You don't have to include every relative
Speaker 1: on every group text. Maybe you have one for the
Speaker 1: few that you are closest to and include them on
Speaker 1: the details of your life. If you haven't had one going,
Speaker 1: maybe just try starting one. You might have to do
Speaker 1: the first few posts, or be strategic about posting things
Speaker 1: that loop the others in, like mentioning your kid's dance
Speaker 1: class and asking your sister if she remembers the tap
Speaker 1: class you two took together on a thread with all
Speaker 1: your siblings. But this is kind of like starting a fire.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it takes some work, but then it can go
Speaker 1: for a while. If you are not into texting, maybe
Speaker 1: there's something else that works. Emails might so do quick
Speaker 1: phone calls with some relatives. You might worry about not
Speaker 1: being able to get off the phone when you have
Speaker 1: a million things to do, but you can, in fact
Speaker 1: start each conversation with boundaries. I'm picking up Jane at
Speaker 1: soccer and need to go as soon as she gets
Speaker 1: in the car, but I just wanted to check in
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. But when you talk frequently text frequently,
Speaker 1: you start to get enough details that conversations can actually happen.
Speaker 1: I have had the happy experience a few times in
Speaker 1: my life of meeting people in person who have listened
Speaker 1: to lots of my podcasts, so they know enough details
Speaker 1: of my life that they automatically share things from their
Speaker 1: lives that they know I will find interesting, and they
Speaker 1: ask questions that they know I'll probably have something to
Speaker 1: say about. It makes the conversation so much easier versus
Speaker 1: when you don't know much about each other, so you're
Speaker 1: always just grasping for common ground. Oh, Cleveland, I was
Speaker 1: in Cleveland once. It can be rough knowing lots of details.
Speaker 1: Let's you skip all that. A group chat or email
Speaker 1: thread lets you get to that happy place. So if
Speaker 1: you want to have something to talk about with the
Speaker 1: people in your life, unicate with them more frequently and
Speaker 1: share more specifics. Real conversation now makes real conversation later
Speaker 1: easier and richer. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.