The expression “when it rains, it pours,” seems to ring true with me quite often. There have been times when I feel like my things are working against me, like back in early summer when my iPod first broke, my cell charger stopped working and my air mattress busted all at once. There are times when I feel that circumstances are against me, like when I was kind of in a down period a couple months after I moved to DC because I missed my family, friends and boyfriend, and I was worried I wouldn’t find a job soon enough. There are also times when I feel like missed communication and unspoken words have such an impact on me and my general state of emotions that it’s all I can think about.
I’m feeling this way now. Today I experienced an opportunity to voice to someone with authority my general frustrations with how some things are handled at the office. It felt nice to get it out, and even nicer to know that I wasn’t just complaining with nothing being done, and that my displeasure was not unfounded. It’s nice to find a supervisor that you can trust and that trusts you, and that you are able to talk through your issues with.
I feel there are some unspoken words and emotions floating around between a family member and I as well. It’s hard sometimes to get things out in the open, especially when there have been past struggles, and we each have our own inner turmoils and bottled up emotions. It’s even harder when we haven’t seen each other in awhile, and we have to adjust to “hanging out” again, if you will.
Communication is key in so many ways in our lives. I work in communications, yet I struggle with it with the most important people in my life sometimes. It’s not always easy to clarify our thoughts and feelings, especially if we are first unsure if it’s okay to have these feelings in the first place. It’s important to be able to go to someone and take steps to resolve an issue, or to break down a barrier. If you don’t, it only makes things tougher in the long run. Everyday, I think about what I should and shouldn’t say to people. Sometimes I don’t do a good job deciding that, either. Is it necessary to say something to or about someone if it doesn’t affect me? Probably not. Is it worth talking to someone if you can work together to improve the situation for both of you? Definitely.
A couple of quotes I love that relate to this topic:
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” -Rudyard Kipling
“Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.” -Rollo May
“The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.” -Edward R. Murrow
Jenna Sauber 