For a long time, I thought talking was just a tool to empty your mind, something that lets you pour out your thoughts and relieve the pressure in your brain.

After years of tracing the shadow that affected all my relationships and was slowly destroying them, I realized this: talking to empty your mind. Maybe I never would have understood this if dear friends hadn’t taken the courage to tell me why they were upset with me.

On the surface, it seems simple. Many people knew this from the start. Yet, my introversion and the environment I grew up in made a crucial point about social interaction unclear to me.

Perhaps the truth about talking is this: it’s about emptying the mind, but in reality, it’s something else. Talking is a tool for communication, a way to convey meaning from one person to another. Not just spilling your thoughts without considering the impact. Every word and sentence that comes out of your mouth serves as a clue for others to understand your thinking and character. Naturally, ignoring this only displays your mindset and personality to others, and when you tell yourself, “I’m not like that, why do others think I am?” the answer comes back to this very point.