Address the Issue

Today's message, we can do hard things! (Shout out to Tanisha Arena who is unlikely to see this but still).

People really have a hard time talking TO one another. If we have an issue, we'll talk ABOUT that person and the issue or AT that person but not TO them. And it seems to be getting worse.

I get it. It's hard to bring things up. You don't know how they'll take it. You don't want to make it a big issue. You want to keep the peace. The list goes on and on. All of this is true.

You know what else is true? Unaddressed issues just get worse!

You're upset with someone. You never talk about it but you think about it. So, everything they do and say gets filtered through the lens of that upset. The most trivial thing can become a problem. "Did you see how they were breathing?!?!?!? Ugh, why do they always need so much attention". That's an exaggeration but you get it. It doesn't have to be this way!

If you want to address an issue and don't know how to do it, try curiosity: "You said xyz and I wasn't clear what you meant. Can you explain it please?" Or, "When you did abcd I took that as efg. Is that how you meant it?"

It's a way to open up the conversation and from there, you can take it wherever it needs to go. We've got to do a better job at talking TO one another. Sharing because this helps me.