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I'm not sure the best way to ask this, but when I have conversations with my gf and she's just ranting/venting my first tendency is to try helping or giving her ideas on how to fix the issues she's bringing up. Clearly this isn't what she wants, I get that she just wants me to listen sometimes. What do you do or say when your gf gets like this? What about on phone calls? I feel like shes talking my ear off some days and I start to lose interest in the conversation when she gets to this point.
We have great conversations, but when she gets in this rant/vent mode I feel my eyes glazing over. Any tips or advice?
She's just wanting to be heard, it doesn't require much of any effort for something that'll make her feel validated.
Feign off the urge to fix. Simply empathize with what she's saying you can do this by paraphrasing and reflecting what she's saying (not parroting). Least do so out of a genuine interest otherwise it'll come off as patronizing.
Its a skill to recognize when someone simply wants to be heard versus jumping right into problem solving (which is typically the male go-to). Stay with the person, and by this I mean if they're griping about someone else simply bring it back to them, and how things affect them rather than taking sides (this requires some finesse if you're not used to it). "So when Sheila did this, what was that like for you?" for example. But mostly just some basic listening skills will get you well ahead of the curve.
Give me a brief example of some texts and I'll illustrate.