Amelia's User Manual - A Brief Guide On How To Effectively Communicate With Me
- I want to understand people. What makes them tick? What do they need or want? How do they see the world and why might they have that point of view?
- I want to help. Even if all I can do is listen, I want to do it.
- I want to learn. I believe that I only have one chance to live and I want to make the most of that short time by learning whatever I can.
- I communicate directly, and I've been told I can be blunt.
- I also have a sense of humor and sometimes I try to ease tension by cracking jokes.
- I tend to prefer small groups because I can become overstimulated, and in large groups I typically stay quiet and observe. At parties you might find me in the kitchen (trying to help) or outside (to decompress).
- I have ADHD, so my brain works in a very peculiar way. It's kind of like a huge library with tons and tons of files, but there's nobody at the front desk to route things to the correct shelf. When a lot of input comes in all at once, things get jumbled or stashed wherever there's an empty space (which isn't always the best place). In some extreme cases I can freeze up if too much input happens simultaneously.
- I prefer very direct communication. I am not very good at catching subtext or hidden meanings, so I prefer bluntness to subtlety.
- I'm better with text communication than spoken communication. Writing or typing something out helps me organize my thoughts, whereas I have a tendency to blurt out whatever pops into my head when I'm speaking. I am also very tangent-prone in spoken conversation for the same reason.
- I am an expert at hyperfocusing. I can get stuck on things (for better or worse) and spend many hours going down a "Research Hole". Sometimes I need to be pulled out of a research hole, so if I disappear please check in on me (you may very well be saving me from myself).
- I like feedback. If I've made a mistake I want to know what it was, and I also like to know what I could do differently to avoid making the same mistake again.
- I do have a tendency to forget things and have difficulty maintaining relationships because I will forget to reply or to reach out to others. If I don't respond to a message, please message me again because it is very likely that I've just forgotten to follow up.
- I will never turn down an opportunity to learn something new.
- Passive-aggressiveness
- Arrogance
- Selfishness
- My superhuman ability to forget things. I have ways to mitigate it, but I do still forget a lot.
- I am prone to distraction. Again, I have ways to mitigate it but I am still easily sidetracked.