Image of a screenshot of Twitter of a screenshot of Facebook.
The Facebook screenshot reads:
Fun fact about me: When I’m having a conversation with you, I will periodically bring up personal experiences from my own life, interspersed withing your own stories that you’re telling me. I’m not doing this to try and make the conversation about me, or to take away from your own experience. Actually, what I’m attempting to do, is to try and show you that I do, in fact, understand what you’re trying to tell me, and that I am giving your story my full attention.
It can really be off-putting to some people, so if I’ve ever done this to you during a conversation, I just wanted to make sure you know that I wasn’t trying to take over your story, I was just doing my best to connect with you in the moment.
The screenshot of Twitter reads:
This. I am fully aware that I do this. And I feel so guilty every time, but this. Understand this.
Hahaha, as a nurse, I think you should become a nurse. This is a clinical skill we are taught called “therapeutic use of self.”
I will selectively tell stories from my own personal background explicitly for the sake of drawing more information out of a patient, letting them know they’re not alone I’ve been through something similar, or sometimes just a funny anecdote to distract them from something uncomfortable.
But it’s never about something I’m particularly interested in talking about. It’s only because it’s relevant to the patient’s current situation and I feel like it might help them in some way. Because, after all, love y’all and everything, but I’m at work here, not trying to socialize with ya.
And yes…it sometimes feels a little sociopathic lol