Never Be Afraid To Say What You Feel

So many times I wish I would have had the courage to speak my mind. I'm the type of person that avoids confrontation if at all possible. I avoid talking about something because I am afraid of the reaction that I will get or the argument I might start. Sometimes I think the lack of courage and the inability to speak up, has caused me to be resentful, angry and even distant from people I love or have loved in the past. I am afraid to hurt people so I don't say anything when something is bothering me. As a result, I am the one who is angry and resentful, whereas the situation could have been resolved by talking about it and the anger and resentment could all have been avoided. I am not talking about anything in particular that is going on with me today, just lessons I have learned in the past. I have gotten better about talking about things, but even now, I am hesitant to bring something up because people are just sensitive by nature, especially when they feel like they are being attacked, or picked on. That is never my intention. Communication is the key to any happy relationship no matter who the relationship is with..parents, siblings or partners. Nothing can ever get resolved if concerns are never addressed.

I guess there are a lot of things that I could do better but one big thing is talking about things that bother me. I can never seem to avoid hurting people by talking about these things. For instance, not long ago, my kids weren't getting along because of something one of them did. I killed me to see them not talking knowing how much they love each other and how important they are to each other. Whenever I brought up the subject, feelings got hurt and anger just ran rampid. It didn't matter what I said, it was always the wrong thing. It hurt a lot and made me sad knowing that there was nothing I could do to make the situation better. They had to resolve it on their own. The wait for that to happen was unbearable. If they had just talked about the situation, rather than avoiding the issue, they would have been a lot happier a lot faster. Once the problem was addressed, it was resolved and life got back to normal. All those months of anger and hatred just do not make any sense. It was time wasted. All is good now, but what if this had gone on for years, so many memories would never have happened. I hope they have both learned from this.  

So take my advice and adopt my motto: LIFE'S TOO SHORT! GET OVER IT AND MOVE ON!
You will be glad you did :)