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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Good morning.
This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is that conversation breeds conversation.
The more you talk with a person, the more you have to say to each other.
Far from exhausting topics.
When you know about a person's daily life, you are able to pick up on these threads and expand from there.
So plenty of people with full lives would like to have closer relationships with their extended families.
But when they find time in their busy schedules to get together, they sometimes discover that they don't have much to talk about.
After a lackluster family dinner, you might decide that you are just not that close to the relatives and downgrade your relationship to a we-will-see-you-at-Thanksgiving sort of thing.
But I think there is another option.
My Best of Both Worlds co-host, Sarah Hart Unger, noted that with her extended family, she has found that the more you talk, the more you have to say.
She has a group text going with her family where they share details of daily life.
So when she sees her family, they already know about their recent search for a car.
Her foray into Pilates.
And she knows the headlines of their lives, too.
All of this suggests conversation topics that can be continued.
Now, I know that group texts could get a bad reputation.
It is true that some people hijack them or post a lot, but you can be judicious about these things.
You don't have to include every relative on every group text.
Maybe you have one for the few that you are closest to and include them on the details of your life.
If you haven't had one going, maybe just try starting one.
You might have to do the first few posts or be strategic about posting things that loop the others in, like mentioning your kid's dance class and asking your sister if she remembers the tap class you two took together on a thread with all your siblings.
But this is kind of like starting a fire.
Sometimes it takes some work, but then it can go for a while.
If you are not into texting, maybe there's something else that works.
Emails might.
So do quick phone calls.
With some relatives.
You might worry about not being able to get off the phone when you have a million things to do, but you can in fact, start each conversation with boundaries.
I'm picking up Jane at soccer and need to go as soon as she gets in the car, but I just wanted to check in.
That sort of thing.
But when you talk frequently or text frequently, you start to get enough details that conversations can actually happen.
I have had the happy experience a few times in my life of meeting people in person who have listened to lots of my podcasts.
So they know enough details of my life that they automatically share things from their lives that they know I will find interesting, and they ask questions that they know I'll probably have something to say about.
It makes the conversation so much easier versus when you don't know much about each other.
So you're always just grasping for common ground.
Oh, Cleveland.
I was in Cleveland once.
It can be rough.
Knowing lots of details lets you skip all that.
A group chat or email thread lets you get to that happy place.
So if you want to have something to talk about with the people in your life, communicate with them more frequently and share more specifics.
Real conversation now makes real conversation later. easier and richer.
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening.
And here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas or feedback, you can reach me Before.
Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media.
For more podcasts from iHeart Media, please visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Johnny Knoxville here.
Check out Crimeless Hillbilly Heist, my new true crime podcast from Smartless Media, Campside Media and Big Money Players.
It's the true story of the almost perfect crime and the Nimrods who almost pulled it off.
It was kind of like the perfect storm in a sewer.
That was dumb.
Do not follow my example.
Listen to Crimeless Hillbilly Heist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Two rich young Americans move to the Costa Rican jungle to start over, but one of them will end up dead and the other tried for murder three times.
It starts with a dream, a nature reserve and a spectacular new home.
But little by little... They lose it.
They actually lose it.
They sort of went nuts.
Until one night, everything spins out of control.
Listen to Hell in Heaven on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is an iHeart Podcast.
