Some people are loud because they’re scared of what they’d hear if they stopped talking.

Constant talk can be a way of staying a few steps ahead of your own thoughts. As long as there is sound, nothing has a chance to surface. It looks like confidence from outside and often feels like the opposite from inside, which is worth remembering before you decide somebody is just full of themselves.

When you catch yourself filling every gap in a conversation, let one stay open and see what surfaces. With the loudest person you know, try asking one real question and then waiting, since it is possible nobody has.