How to be less neurotic about getting back to people

I’ve destroyed a few friendships and professional opportunities simply by not sending an email, or replying to a text. I’m now significantly better at this than I used to be. Now, everyone knows, in essence, how to get better at communication: get in the habit of sending brisk responses immediately. However, in my case, doing that required getting over some hangups. The words below do a passable job of explaining how I got over myself. When you get an email from someone, you are, on the surface, being asked to accomplish some task, like schedule a meeting, or provide advice. But, fundamentally , you are being recruited to mitigate the nightmarish loneliness that plagues us all. Thankfully, any halfway coherent response accomplishes this job. You have acknowledged their existence: excellent! It can be extremely clarifying to look at this as the primary goal of communication, rather than, say, imposing your wit, or nullifying the possibility of conflict. Moreover, if this is seen as the

I’ve destroyed a few friendships and professional opportunities simply by not sending an email, or replying to a text. I’m now significantly better at this than I used to be. Now, everyone knows, in essence, how to get better at communication: get in the habit of sending brisk responses immediately. However, in my case, doing that required getting over some hangups. The words below do a passable job of explaining how I got over myself. When you get an email from someone, you are, on the surface, being asked to accomplish some task, like schedule a meeting, or provide advice. But, fundamentally