Do you ever listen to yourself speak, or read back what you’ve written and think – I say that word too much or I overuse certain manners of speaking too much? Probably not but I do because I seem to have a hyper critical view of myself.

Case in point, I use metaphors and analogies, A LOT! I often transform entire thoughts or events into elaborate analogies to describe my feelings or views. Nobody has ever called me out on it but sometimes I think I use them to the point of being annoying. My use of these could be seen as habitual or worse, condescending in my manner of explaining things. That is certainly not my intent but I can see how this could be misconstrued by some.

I pride myself in my ability to describe things in enough detail in order to be understood. The truth is that there are deeper reasons behind my use of metaphors and analogies that go beyond just doing so to creatively explain something. Much of this style is directed inward and not at all for the person listening or reading what I have to say. I’ve come to believe that using either a metaphor or analogy has become my personal way of comprehending my own thoughts as they come out.

Part of this has to do with my not always having the right words or ability to articulate my thoughts, so constructing thoughts in story form helps me do this. In the absence of this storytelling style I stumble and grasp for the words that I feel are just beyond my reach. For me there is a process of self analysis constantly going on in my mind. Words, phrases, and thoughts become carefully rehearsed before taking my perceived risk of sharing them.

Another source for this may have to do with my reluctance to fully express my thoughts or feelings. I find it much easier to wander off with my own philosophical explanations than to state something in short concise descriptive thoughts. The exception to this would be technical writing which comes easy to me but when thoughts are conveyed in outline form it just comes off as lacking any emotion.

Writing this has been an exercise in both observation and frustration. I did so without injecting any of those analogies that I commonly fall back upon. Each time I felt the need to Kensplain one of the above thoughts I stopped and tried to think how else I could describe the message. Some parts of this post simply paused and restarted while other thoughts literally brought my points to a standstill. The point is that no matter how much I write or attempt to get my ideas out there I struggle to project just as much as I struggle to understand. For now I will continue to communicate as thoughtfully as I know how and continue to learn from my way of being.