Men are from Mars and women are from Venus – to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true.
Sometimes it seems for both men and women that the opposite sex really is from another planet.
Considering we all speak the same language, it’s amazing how often we can seem to misinterpret simple conversations spiralling into a vortex of confusion, anger, upset and frustration.
All of us are able to think of that text, IM, email or Facebook post that was misunderstood which created a world of mix-ups and mistakes.
Are we all lost in translation?
Often we struggle to find the words to convey our intentions, so when the cyberspace of the web and text messages mean that these are expressed merely in text without any body language or voice intonation to help us convey our meaning, it’s inevitable that turmoil will rein.
Whether between friends or partners, the failure to communicate can result in dire outcomes.
Sometimes even a complete lack of contact can be misinterpreted.
My friend Kayla last week called me in an upset and jealous rage.
Her boyfriend had gone away for the weekend with a group of friends from home, including his ex.
After various promises that he would “behave” and there was no feelings between him and the ex, he promised he would text her over the weekend.
Monday came and still nothing. She had become convinced he had cheated on her and that was why she hadn’t heard from him.
Two days later Kayla called me back telling me he had lost his phone and appeared at her doorstep on Monday night with flowers saying how much he had missed her.
Unfortunately for Kayla, her boyfriend’s phone was found at the hotel and sent to him the next day – revealing 8 missed calls and 5 texts from Kayla, the last accusing him of cheating and that he “might as well stay with her cause [he’s] clearly not thinking of me!”
Okay, definitely an overreaction by Kayla, but this miscommunication is a clear illustration of how it is so easy to overreact to a mistranslation or mere lack of contact.
I admit, us women are usually the convicts, but maybe if we all try to stop irrationally overreacting and start trying to communicate face-to-face or at least over a voice call, maybe we’ll all start to speak the same language.
Sarah Darby
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