Having Difficult Conversations

Having difficult conversation is a part of life, whether it be with people close to us like family or friends or others that we may be forced to have a relationship with such as co-workers or schoolmates.  This week I had to have two uncomfortable conversations, one with a co-worker and the other with my boyfriend. Both have been brewing for a while and in one case I had the balls to initiate the conversation and in the other I didn’t.  For me it brings to mind the importance of being honest with ourselves and with others.  I myself have a tendency to sweep things that bother me under the rug and tell myself that I’m not the kind of person who holds grudges and then eventually I feel as though I am over the incident. That is until something else happens and I find myself blowing up in a way that clearly shows that I am not only upset about the problem at hand but all the things I thought I was over.

For me I think I’m still learning when I should be stepping forward and when I should be shutting up.  I still think that I’m not the kind of person to hold a grudge but in order to have healthy relationships with people I need to step up more and put my feelings out there so that we can start anew.  For that to happen I have to be comfortable with my truth about how a certain situation or statement made me feel.  I believe that the more I accept my feeling then more at ease I will be with having difficult conversations with people and expressing myself.

At the end of the day I want to have open, honest relationships with people and in order for that to happen I need to be open and honest with myself.  Once we accept that we matter and our feelings matter we are less likely to let others dismiss them.