Tempo. It all comes down to tempo. Sometimes we are just too slow to get our ideas crossed, and others too fast to get theirs.

Sometimes we suffer from a chronic illness that makes us unable to express ourselves in the manner or speed we would prefer. In such instances it may be particularly frustrating to “take part” in a conversation. By the time you finally remember what to say or have found the right words to what you want to say, the conversation may have proceeded too far from that point, and you end up saying nothing, thinking that others would not catch on your drift at all anymore. You have missed the train so to speak.

You would think that others – the fast speakers – should be more observant of the slower ones. Listen more and not just talk incessantly. But sometimes it’s almost impossible to stop yourself when you get going. Enthusiasm takes over, the surge of ideas make it hard for you to slow down, and even when you think about it for that fraction of a second, the next wave takes over. People like that make excellent public speakers, but sometimes poor conversationalists if they don’t at all censor themselves.

The thing is, we all have something to say. And we all need  – or have the right – to our own pace and space to say it. Sometimes we get lucky and find just the right person with whom we can talk without any concern of being interrupted. But too often the slow thinker/talker will not get to unburden his or her mind. And that just doesn’t seem fair.

häkeltyä = to be stupified, flurried, baffled, get flurried