Communicating...easier said that done.

Get it?

It seems like a simple thing.  Tell someone how you fell, what you're thinking, why you disagree, why you think they're amazing, etc.

And it should be, but it isn't. Emotions get in the way: "I hope I don't offend them, I wonder what they'll do if I say something, will in ruin our friendship, etc.

Should I have called this post "etc."?

But actually it is easy.  We just get scared or second guess ourselves. Sometimes we think we're being a burden and don't want to put too much pressure on the other person. And sometimes we think "why bother? they wouldn't listen to me anyway..."

But things are better when we communicate. Yes, we might lose people but if they didn't understand, then what was your friendship based on? If they can't stay friends with you after you say what's on your mind then maybe they really didn't truly value your opinion in the first place.

Advice I'm sure I need to take.

And if they can't stay after you unload, maybe they shouldn't be in your life.  We need people in our lives that can handle us, that love us for who we are but also help us to change in the good ways rather than "try to change us."

We really do need to communicate more. All of us. All the time. Even if that we communicate that we don't want to talk about something right now.  Or that we do but we don't know how to say what we want to say.  Or if we are afraid of hurting someone's feelings, that we say that to them as well.  Give them the footnotes to what you want to say.  It's something and it shows that you do care and
that you want to have a communicative relationship. Even if, again, you just need to communicate to say that you don't feel like talking but that it doesn't mean you want to be alone.

Just something that's been on my mind.