Well… Yeah… Um… Uhuh. Awkward. So we all have to deal with awkward pauses. In fact, many times, we are the cause of the awkward pause. I hope that by the end of this piece you will be able to clearly identify the root cause of an awkward pause and the best way to resolve it.
We will not go into all of the situations in which awkward pauses occur. These situations are endless and there will always be new ones. What you want to be able to do is transform the awkward pause into a miraculous moment. If you can do that, you will be king of the country… or queen of the castle.
So let’s say for example that you just told your boyfriend that you love him or a boy that is a friend that you like him… and you get the awkward pause. What should you do? Well, after the “I love you” you can add “just as much as I love eating dirt” or “just as much as I love a good root canal” or “like I love smashing my pinky in the door”.
Example #2. Let’s say you are on the phone with one of your friends and they just do not know how to carry a conversation. They just stop talking at weird spots… and you are thinking “are they done… are we done talking?” In these cases, it is best to give a pronounced, “welp, I guess, I’ll be a talking to you” or “soooo, I’ll see you later” or “how about this weather huh… it sure is something!”
I must be honest. Most of the time I just let the awkward pause go. I kind of like them. Maybe I like the awkwardness. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. It depends on the level of awkwardness and if the mood I am in allows me to feel awkward.
Really at the root of it though… it is just a pause. Oh oh… I just broke it down. It’s just a pause. You and other people make it awkward. Oh, I just broke it down again. So if you do not want the pause to be awkward… don’t make it awkward. Pauses can be great and silence can be golden.
Sometimes I make noises during awkward pauses. I am curious though, what do you do during awkward pauses?