Fears

Last week, the topic of my blog was “Cheers.”  Today my topic is “Fears.”  To be specific, my fear of repeating myself.

When I started writing this blog more than ten years ago, I had a lot of good ideas for material and was never at a loss for what to write about.  By now I have not only used up every one of those good ideas, but I’ve also completely forgotten what I’ve previously written.  Thus, I risk repeating myself without even realizing it.

And repeating yourself is a big issue in my family.  Especially when I do it.

My dad repeated himself often during conversations with me, so it must be karma that my children are the ones who now roll up their eyes and say the same thing I used to say to my dad. “Dad, you’ve already told me that,” they say.

And then, to rub it in, “Three times.”

I’ve even taken the vow to only tell my children about my experiences if they happened within the past two weeks.  That should avoid repetition, right?  If I could actually do it.

But do you have any idea how long two weeks is?  Also it is nearly impossible to keep track of the day when something happened, and remembering conversations is not one of my strong points.

But I have an idea inspired by a news story that might be able to help me.  The new Pope has a reputation for being an excellent listener.  I know for myself that I always learn a lot more when I listen than when I talk.

I hereby resolve to be an even better listener than I have been. This should have the added benefit of helping me restrain my preference to do most of the talking (a trait that also runs in my family).

My fear is that I’ll continue to repeat myself.

Or did I already say that?

Alan