The other day, I received a letter from an old friend of mine. Yep, a real snail mail letter. I was beyond excited to receive this letter as no one sends mail anymore. The letter contained three full pages of information on my friend's trying times. He has been struggling with his career aspirations and his plans to move forward. He literally complained to me about his life and family for 3 pages! In the letter he apologized for being so pessimistic but at the end of the letter, I was happy to read about it. He was completely candid with me. He wrote exactly what he was feeling and told me exactly what was going on in his life. He didn't hide or sugarcoat anything. He was just telling me exactly how he feels.
I agree that having someone complain all the time can be very... annoying. However, I have known this friend for a LONG time and I know that he is not one to constantly complain. Our past conversations have usually been filled with excitement and fun. I knew he just needed to be truthful with me about what was going on with him these days.
A lot of people do not like this kind of openness in conversation. When you ask someone in passing, "Hey, how are you?" most people respond with just good, fine or what have you. They never go beyond that, because they think, "who really cares how I am?" Sometimes, you just need to let it out. It is okay to let people know that you are doing exceptional because you just got a promotion or that you are in down in the dumps because you ran over a possum (true story).
No comments:
Post a Comment