[GishAdore]

I've never heard anyone describe what I'm about to, but I can only conclude it is part of the spectrum of social anxiety:

For the past few months, maybe almost a year, I've this strange anxiety. I can't really explain it thoroughly in one sentence, but here are some thoughts that go through my head:

"What if there comes a point where I just run out of things to talk about with that person? Regardless of how close we are, I feel that I am so strange and boring and unique and incompatible, I will just run out of things to talk about one day, forever."

"Boy, I love having my Disneyland annual pass. But what happens after I go there enough to where I've visited every nook and cranny of the place? Will my love for it go stale? Why can't it be infinite? Why is it so relatively small?"

"I love Doctor Who. But what happens after I finish the series? And read all the Wikipedia articles on it? I feel very strongly about this show, but why is it so limited, when I never want it to end?"

"That's a great poem you just wrote! But what if there comes a day when you run out of things to write about? There are such limitations in language, it is inevitable there will be a day where you run dry of ideas."

Basically, I suffer from an anxiety of limits and ends. It is one of the worst feelings ever. I've never heard of anyone feeling the same way about things. But I am desperate to know if anyone out there knows how I feel, or has a term for how I feel.

I want this feeling to go away, more than anything. I cannot ****ing stand it anymore and I don't know what to do.

 

[bumbellina]

Ha, believe it or not I can relate to this! As a writer, I KNOW what it's like when you're fearing running out of "good ideas." But let me assure you-creativity is INFINITE! And it's beautiful. The trick is in forming GOOD HABITS, so you get used to writing x amount of times per day, or in your case, finding things to talk about, etc. Another cool thing with conversation, is that it can be supplemented by Real World activity. This means you have an excuse to put yourself out there and do things, so you can talk about them later. There will NEVER be a dearth of local plays or activities to attend. Basically, the world can be really scary, but it is also WAY AWESOME, and its loveliness should be embraced. I know when you have anxiety its hard to look at it in this way, but BELIEVE ME, I've had the same thought pattern, and I know from experience its fallacious.

 

[Sevilla]

I feel this way all the time. I often avoid going out to see people because I think, "what if I don't know what to say? what will I say when I run out of things to say? I can't just be awkwardly quiet the whole time."

This is one reason meeting strangers is really hard. You're worried about offending them or saying something you shouldn't, but you also don't know a thing about them so it's hard to talk to them about things. There's only so many generic questions you can ask too.

I think the best way to do this is work specifically on how to have at least a 5 minute long conversation with a stranger. Don't focus on you. It's better to let people talk about themselves- they like that. So think on generic questions you can ask strangers and practice that. You'll be able to interject things about you in-between that.

I learned about this because I know a really outgoing guy who is a musician. He asked his mom how he should talk to people when he had nothing to say once and she told him to let people talk about themselves to you and they'll like you.

 

[beats me]

Larry David the co writer of "Sienfeld" freaked out when NBC told them they wanted more episodes after they made the pilot he was worried about coming up with ideas and look how succesfull that show was i love that show by the way

 

[tehuti88]

Ha, believe it or not I can relate to this! As a writer, I KNOW what it's like when you're fearing running out of "good ideas." But let me assure you-creativity is INFINITE! And it's beautiful. The trick is in forming GOOD HABITS, so you get used to writing x amount of times per day, or in your case, finding things to talk about, etc. Another cool thing with conversation, is that it can be supplemented by Real World activity. This means you have an excuse to put yourself out there and do things, so you can talk about them later. There will NEVER be a dearth of local plays or activities to attend. Basically, the world can be really scary, but it is also WAY AWESOME, and its loveliness should be embraced. I know when you have anxiety its hard to look at it in this way, but BELIEVE ME, I've had the same thought pattern, and I know from experience its fallacious.

Good post.

I'm a writer also, so I also know that fear of "What happens if/when I run out of ideas...??" I've found that, as long as you keep yourself and your mind busy always learning and experiencing things, you shouldn't run out of ideas or things to talk about or things to love about something.

There's a nearby island I love to visit and this thing is so small, it's only about eight miles around the shoreline. I go there every year and walk around for hours. There was a brief period of time I went through thinking, "I've seen just about all there is to see here. I'm getting tired. What joy is there in coming here anymore...?"

What joy was there? I ended up taking two trips there with my online friend and visiting parts of the island I'd never gone to before. Last time I was there, I got caught in a rainstorm and considered cutting my trip short, but decided against it since I was already soaked, and kept going. And I found these deep mysterious cedar woods where I was all by myself, and it was as dark as late evening in the early afternoon...it was like a whole new world.

Considering that a fictional version of this island is what I write about, this just gave me all kinds of new ideas. There are still things left to experience and love. I just have to look hard for them. Even something you've experienced before can be fresh and new the second time around.

You just have to keep an open mind and find ways of looking at and appreciating things differently.