My entire life people have told me I talk to much. I have been called a "Chatty Cathy" and worse. I have been scolded, harassed, and even reprimanded for it. Every parent-teacher conference my parents went to included them being told about how my talking was disruptive. As I got older I was told I was disrespectful to others because I wasn't allowing them to talk and was given warning at various workplaces about it. Once I found that a coworker was mocking me under her breath as I was talking during the work day, and have even had an employer install a white noise machine that cost thousands of dollars because of my talking.
Here is a grade school report card of mine.
I have become more self-aware of my talking and have learned to hold it back over the years. However this usually is detrimental to my mental health. As a single women who lives alone, I go home and have no one to talk to. Many weeks my only interaction with others will be with people in my work place. I have gone into bouts of depression and anxiety, have felt very alone, and have had issues fester inside my mind when I am not allowed to talk.
I have learned that talking is part of who I am. And I have learned to turn it into a strength. After being scolded so many times for opening my mouth I do not have the fear of idea rejection the way many others do. I am the person in meetings who will ask the question everyone is afraid to ask, I am less afraid of rejection and failure in my life, and I can regularly share my art and ideas online consistently without the effort it takes others to create that kind of consistent content. And I am very aware that not everyone appreciates hearing from me. Very few of my friends and family follow my online art postings. But there are many others who do listen and enjoy hearing from me.
Talking is who I am, and in a world where creating content is now an asset, I have flipped my weakness into a strength. I have combined this lifelong skill with my other lifelong skill of creativity and now have a robust online presence to show for it. What weakness do you have that can be leveraged into a strength?
The same grade school report card of mine.