Talking slower

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i speak quite quickly because i find that my ability to think quickly far outstrips my ability to speak.
it's rarely commented on and people don't generally have trouble understanding me.

this is probably because i live in New York City where the majority of the population speaks fast. i have one friend who speaks very quickly, because she hates being interrupted. it can be difficult to understand her sometimes not because of how fast she speaks but because in trying to get everything out at once she sometimes loses parts of what she's trying to say.

when we're together i sometimes fill in the gaps for other people. a lot of the time, she seemingly forgets that the other person might not know what she's talking about because they weren't around. she's not on the spectrum but she does have ADD.

i usually don't mind being interrupted unless it's done in a rude way. my problem which i've been working on for years is leaving long enough gaps for people to speak. i've come to realize over the years that even NTs don't always know when to speak.

I find myself talking really fast sometimes, to the point that it's not unusual for people to ask me to repeat myself, because my words are running into each other, and I'm leaving out syllables of words.

I'm actually a lot better about slowing down my speech than I was back in junior High, high school, and the start of my college years. The problem used to be much worse, to the point that a family friend once took my mom aside to remark that I seemed to have a speech problem, and she wondered if I was getting help for it. My mom told me about this later out of her own frustration with my tendency toward rapid speech, because she was desperate to drive home the point that I needed to slow down my speech.

Like I said, I'm a lot better than I used to be, and I don't always speak abnormally quickly. I do slip into old habits at times, though, especially when I'm more anxious, overwhelmed or strained than my normal level. I do have significant issues with anxiety, and I think that heavily contributes to the overly rapid speech. My speech can also become overly loud at times. I recall a time a few years back when I was talking to my therapist. It had been a really difficult day for me, and my anxiety level was particularly high. My therapist remarked that my speech was "pressured."

A little while ago, I was just on the phone with a friend of mine I've known twenty years and I don't think I was speaking that quickly for the most part. I think I'm less inclined to rush through what I'm saying when I'm somewhat comfortable with the other person to whom I'm speaking. I asked my Mom what she's noticed, and she also says I do it less when I'm comfortable with the other person. She says I'm also more inclined to rush my speech when there's "a lot (I'm) trying to get out." When I'm trying to verbally share a great deal of information at once, I may find myself saying everything in one breath. It's difficult for me to share some kinds of information verbally -- it's so much easier to write things out. Thus, forcing myself to share information verbally may lead to strain, a feeling of being under pressure, and the feeling of being under pressure causes me to rush through what I'm saying.

This is something I'm working on, and, as I said, I have improved some. It's still a work in progress for me at this point.