With the assessments about my communication skills, I can see that I am a very

understanding, empathic, and an effective communicator. I articulate my needs and can

empathizing with others. I do not like to lie. I have been lied to many times in the past. This

causes me to be completely against lying. I feel like it harms more than it ever helps. Also,

working in the health care world, it would be unethical to not communicate the risks that could

be associated with any procedure. All of which helps ground my disclaimer against lying.

When it comes to my opinions and communication, I normally keep to myself, unless

called upon or in writing. I am better at communicating my thoughts through writing than

verbally. I feel more comfortable to share without holding back when writing. It can be

compared to me writing in a journal. This could be just because I have seen the attitude that

words written are less likely to be read “in this day and age”. My concern is also about when I

communicate. I don’t feel like I am very open with my views and sharing how I feel. All this

does depend on the situation and when I feel like it is appropriate for my opinion to be shared. If

its family, or friends, I am more willing to share my ideas.

I feel like I am a great listener at this point in my life. I am open to hearing other people’s

thoughts and opinions. It could also be the result of being trained to be emphatic through jobs

and for my career. To be a great listener you need to be able to empathize with those you are

speaking to and to help them overcome issues that they are delaying with. There are also great

ways to make sure people feel they are being heard by repeating or summarizing what they said.

I am used to having to deescalating situations.

I feel like I have good nonverbal behavior. I try to not show much emotion when I am

upset, but I am more likely to leave the situation sooner to avoid confrontations. I try to keep my
face emotionless or at least with a smile. It seems “in this day and age”, honestly, woman are

expected to smile all the time. However, most of the time people are not always smiling. Because

of this expectation in society, more than not, I am smiling now. Previously, I would not have

concerned myself with it. But after being approached for not smiling, it has caused me to smile

so people don’t try to ask me what is wrong when nothing is. I make sure that my body language

is not defensive. Folding your arms can be considered defensive when approached in a situation

you are not comfortable. This is a defensive move that I have noticed in others. I make sure

during communication that my body language had proper posture but relaxed to be approachable.

My communication strengths are how empathic I am. I can always understand how other

people feel and try to help with advice. I find a way to bond with those I communicate with to

make sure that they feel comfortable talking to me. I empathize and make sure that they feel

heard. I know how to use questions to get open-ended questions answered and how to direct a

conversation where I need to it to go. I can change the conversation away from something that I

am uncomfortable speaking about. I can adapt around the conversations I have with ease and

around those who I am speaking with.

My communication weakness would be being to overly emotional. I try hard to contain

my feelings to myself, but there are times that I can’t hold back my emotions that I am feeling.

Sometimes this requires me to compartmentalized and think about other things to not be upset. I

think sometimes I can be a little cold. I don’t like to care to much about other people anymore,

especially if they are just associates that I do not interact with on a day to day basis. They end up

disappointing you. This probably leads me to sometimes being cold and detached.

If you are my friend, having a conversation is great. I can be really entertaining and

understanding when I want to be. If this is our first conversation together, I’m very cold and
distant. I don’t like to entrust my life and thoughts to strangers. I can talk about work things, but

anything that involves my life does not go over well. I like my privacy due to personal reasons.

My friends think that I am outgoing and bubbly when I am confortable with my environment.