The easiest way to open a rift between you and someone else is often with words.
Sometimes careless. Sometimes thoughtless. The tone of what was said could have been intentional or unintentional… It doesn’t matter; because it is not forgotten.
We may forgive, but we do not forget those that hurt us or the sting of those words. After the smoke clears we try to learn from it in order to avoid further incidents. When we are hurt, we trust a little less, protect ourselves more.
Poor communication is a liability. This is why I stress to my clients, my team, and my friends about the importance of carefully considering words and tone.
While the rift can be mended with words, it will take much longer than it did to create it. We best remember that.
Photo by Callie Joseph on Unsplash