Reflective Essay On Communication

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A have a very close family member that I struggle to communicate with. Due to the nature of this paper and respecting her privacy, I will simply call her Samantha. There are many problems in this relationship pertaining to communication that I will discuss in more detail later on. As a broad overview, I would say that there is no real communication. We can easily talk about irrelevant topics and politics but that is as far as it goes without resulting in anger, frustration and hurt feelings for us both. I have chosen Samantha for this very reason; we are opposites who have strong opinions and we don’t back down. I do not feel as though new communication skills will bring about a change in our relationship allowing us to better communicate, but rather it can provide me a skillset I can use to keep the relationship from breaking down completely. When looking at strategies to keep this relationship stable, it is imperative that I first understand the most common type of conflict that is occurring and what conflict management styles are most utilized. Then I can …show more content…

This is especially important when it comes to para-language ((the way we speak to others (Yolonda Williams. 2016)) and body language. When I am angry, it is very clear by the expression on my face and by the change in the rate of my speech and the pitch, tone and intonation of my voice. Samantha is the same. With both of us appearing hateful, it will be near impossible to withdraw from these conflicts. I have tried for a very long time to change these things about myself, but I have not been successful. The reason for this is simple: I know how she feels about me and I get hurt and angry. Hopefully I will be able to move past this in the future, but for now I need to just take a step back and do my best to avoid conflict whenever

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