How to Recover From an Awkward Silence
Assess what you said., Fix the situation with humor., Stay calm., Change the topic., Bring back previous discussion topics.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Assess what you said.
If you find yourself in the middle of an awkward silence that might have been caused by something you said, take some time to reflect on what you might have said and how it might have negatively impacted your conversation partner.
Even if you don't think you said anything bad, empathize with your conversation partner and view the conversation through her eyes.
Empathy can help foster good relationships, while a lack of empathy can be damaging to relationships.This emotional perspective-taking can help you identify your offensive remark in times of uncertainty. -
Step 2: Fix the situation with humor.
One great way to move past an awkward silence is by using humor to directly confront the elephant in the room.This allows you to directly deal the awkwardness while making light of it, and can serve as a nice transition that will help you to move past the situation and onto better topics of conversation.
For example, you might try some self-deprecating humor, such as "Sorry about that.
Apparently sometimes I like to channel my inner Michael Scott and throw everyone for a loop with some Dunder Mifflin managerial shenanigans." Only use this approach when you're the one who has committed the awkward act.
If you make fun of someone else's awkwardness, this could upset them further and make the situation even more awkward. , If you become anxious about the awkward silence, this can interfere with your ability to think clearly and come up with ways to remove the silence.To stay calm, breathe deeply in over a few seconds and exhale slowly over another few seconds.
You can also try broadening your view of the situation, which can help put an awkward silence in perspective.
To do this, you can ask yourself a question to challenge your feelings, such as, will you actually care about this conversation a month from now?, In many cases, it is probably best to avoid apologizing for the comment and just to change the topic and move on.
Blow past the awkwardness by talking about something else.
The main goal here is to get her mind off of what you said before and get it thinking about what you're saying now.That said, if you said something highly offensive or if she looks clearly upset, you may way to apologize for making that remark.
Keep your apology short and to the point and be ready to change the conversation right after, otherwise the awkward silence may remain. , You may have had a great conversation earlier with her that you could bring back up again to change the subject.
This can be a great way to remind her that you both generally get along, but that you just said something inappropriate this one time.For example, you might say "remember that conversation we had earlier, I'm still curious about why you think X..." -
Step 3: Stay calm.
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Step 4: Change the topic.
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Step 5: Bring back previous discussion topics.
Detailed Guide
If you find yourself in the middle of an awkward silence that might have been caused by something you said, take some time to reflect on what you might have said and how it might have negatively impacted your conversation partner.
Even if you don't think you said anything bad, empathize with your conversation partner and view the conversation through her eyes.
Empathy can help foster good relationships, while a lack of empathy can be damaging to relationships.This emotional perspective-taking can help you identify your offensive remark in times of uncertainty.
One great way to move past an awkward silence is by using humor to directly confront the elephant in the room.This allows you to directly deal the awkwardness while making light of it, and can serve as a nice transition that will help you to move past the situation and onto better topics of conversation.
For example, you might try some self-deprecating humor, such as "Sorry about that.
Apparently sometimes I like to channel my inner Michael Scott and throw everyone for a loop with some Dunder Mifflin managerial shenanigans." Only use this approach when you're the one who has committed the awkward act.
If you make fun of someone else's awkwardness, this could upset them further and make the situation even more awkward. , If you become anxious about the awkward silence, this can interfere with your ability to think clearly and come up with ways to remove the silence.To stay calm, breathe deeply in over a few seconds and exhale slowly over another few seconds.
You can also try broadening your view of the situation, which can help put an awkward silence in perspective.
To do this, you can ask yourself a question to challenge your feelings, such as, will you actually care about this conversation a month from now?, In many cases, it is probably best to avoid apologizing for the comment and just to change the topic and move on.
Blow past the awkwardness by talking about something else.
The main goal here is to get her mind off of what you said before and get it thinking about what you're saying now.That said, if you said something highly offensive or if she looks clearly upset, you may way to apologize for making that remark.
Keep your apology short and to the point and be ready to change the conversation right after, otherwise the awkward silence may remain. , You may have had a great conversation earlier with her that you could bring back up again to change the subject.
This can be a great way to remind her that you both generally get along, but that you just said something inappropriate this one time.For example, you might say "remember that conversation we had earlier, I'm still curious about why you think X..."
About the Author
Donna Ward
Brings years of experience writing about crafts and related subjects.
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