> To me these still read like defensive, insecure answers
What might say if you felt like that in that situation?
It’s tough to say without more context, but if I really felt like I couldn’t say much, I’d probably at least give a “nothing burger” answer like “oh, I was ready for something else” or “we got along as best we could”. This might feel like the same thing but the vibes of it are different. A polite avoidance of the question while still engaging with it rather than a more direct shut down.
But of course in most cases I’d probably say more because it would be safe to, up to whatever seemed like a reasonable amount of information to disclose under the circumstances.
It’s tough to say without more context, but if I really felt like I couldn’t say much, I’d probably at least give a “nothing burger” answer like “oh, I was ready for something else” or “we got along as best we could”. This might feel like the same thing but the vibes of it are different. A polite avoidance of the question while still engaging with it rather than a more direct shut down.
But of course in most cases I’d probably say more because it would be safe to, up to whatever seemed like a reasonable amount of information to disclose under the circumstances.
That seems more avoidant to me than what I said haha.
Also, I fully expected this person to ask questions for more detail if I had said what you suggest.