It’s actually an underrated art you know… being able to translate people’s words from what you hear them saying to what they actually mean to say.
I’ve been in two separate situations over the past week that have really caused me to give some thought to this issue.
Has someone ever told you, “Why don’t you eat broccoli?” and all you heard was “your diet sucks!”? Or “why don’t I help you with that” and all you heard was ‘you’re incapable of this simple task”. Or “those jeans look tight on you” and all you heard was “you’ve gained weight”. How about “i can’t make it to your event” and all you heard was “I don’t care about you”.
Sometimes the words people say sound so wrong off the bat! Sometimes these words are meeting us at our lowest point or feeding our deepest insecurities about ourselves. And so, we do the easiest thing we can do in those moments, we assign to them meaning that was never intended by their authors. Can we really make people carry the burden of our state of mind at the time they uttered their words? Or give them responsibility for insecurities which were probably unbeknownst to them? Or make them accountable for our bad day?
Just offering you a small challenge on this beautiful Wednesday morning: before you react; Explain! Translate! Take some time to really understand why those words offended you. Was it really the point the person was trying to get across or was it were those words met you?
It’s also an art not be long when you don’t need to be.
Love you my faithful readers!
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