We don’t always know how our words land – especially online.
In digital spaces, we write quickly. We reply while distracted. We skim, we type, we send. Along the way, we make assumptions about tone and forget the context that shaped what was said. We read more into a pause than a paragraph. And somewhere in all of that, something vital is often lost; not just the intended meaning, but its meaningfulness – the sense that what we offered truly mattered to someone else.
Lately, I’ve been sitting with the quiet ache that follows a certain kind of reply. The kind that begins with, “Yes, but..”
Yes, but I see it differently.
Yes, but that's not quite right.
Yes, but here's what really matters.
At first glance, it looks like engagement. Perhaps it even is, in the most techincal sense. Someone has responded, the conversation continues. But the energy shifts. What once felt like a shared exploration becomes a subtle contest. The offering I made is no longer being received or built upon, but is being reframed or replaced.
Continue reading “When Conversations Stop Being Conversations”
The London Druid 