There is nothing better than a catch-up with friends in a lovely coffee shop. The atmosphere, the coffee and connectedness all make for a fun sharing interaction. But, not so if it is a one way conversation. Getting talked at is like a bombardment; listening and attending becomes a boring endurance test, until you are able to politely leave as quickly as possible.
It does not matter what age you are, over talkers are there to test us. One really effective way is ditching this person, a special friend or an acquaintance. It is up to you. Maybe you might decide to keep them at a distance so you remain on good terms etc. It is easy enough to politely say you cannot make a coffee date or to artfully avoid over talkers in shops. Slipping down other aisles or say you are in a rush works well.
But if ditching a long term friend who has much to offer to your friendship, is not an option, all is not lost. I can vouch that with some planning it is possible to slow down the talking at. Not to become confronting or rude is a key factor. Subtlety does work and I know because I tried it the other day with a friend, who happens to be an over talker. She was visiting the Sunshine Coast and so we met with our husbands for brunch.
My planned strategy was to jump in during pauses for breathing as often as I could to change from being talked at. I can honestly say it worked better than I thought it would.
It is a promising start and really at my mature age surely I can do this. One is never too old to learn new tricks.
Bye and thank you for dropping by
My special bright flowers sit in front of me sending out rays of bright colourful sunshine, beams of love coming my way. How I love flowers.

