Men interrupt me so constantly that I've learned to prefer solitude and silence, rather than try to compete with male voices to be heard.
M is aware he does it and fully admits it, which is probably as good as I'll get. So I tolerate him.
N however, justifies his constant interruptions by blaming me for having "small pauses" mid sentence.
I asked him if it would help him recognize the completion of a sentence if I punctuate aloud, "question mark."
Or maybe I need to learn to talk very fast andrunallmywordstogether.
When I asked if he can try allowing me to finish one sentence, instead of interrupting EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE, he childishly responded by going SILENT ENTIRELY for several minutes. Again, not what I had in mind, obviously. Such extremes!
Communication is challenging with him. He either talks over me, or doesn't speak at all, because unless I am actively speaking, he has nothing to say.
He reminds me of my cat who rams into my legs when I walk, unaware that I am not a permeable concept, and that I am in fact a solid life form.
He probably has a mental deficit that renders him barely able to hold a balanced conversation, because in the 20+ years I've known him, he still hasn't been able to improve his communication skills whatsoever. He still blames everyone else for it, mystifyingly unaware that he's the one doing the interrupting. I've had more fluid discussions with 2 year olds...
It's quite a handicap. Unfortunately he ensures he'll never learn or improve, by denying it. It's frustrating to see a grown man behave so childishly, and it sucks for him that I need to limit our conversations because of his difficulty listening. He struggles to connect with others, and I can see why.
He's an okay person other than this annoying trait. It's just sad and a bit baffling why he'd screw himself over this way, and so consistently. I can't tell if it's a learned sexist male behavior, or a genuine mental deficit. Maybe both?
He has only just recently learned that he has a condition called Aphantasia, literally the absence of an imagination. He can't visualize images in his mind's eye, and that's heartbreaking to me. His brain can't recall what anything looks like, or sounds like, or smells like. Opposites attract I guess, because this is the guy I married -- when I was still a working artist. The artist married the guy with literally no imagination. No wonder I felt so lonely when we were together. He couldn't relate to my favorite thing about being human. He didn't understand me. Not on purpose. He just literally wasn't able to.
2:54 p.m. - 2022-11-20