How much pointless drama has entered your life because of the bullshit stories we have told ourselves?
Some of the ones in my head...
If a friend hasn't gotten back to me right away...OMG, she's mad at me. What did I do?
Chris came home from work and wants some alone time....GOD he's in a bad mood.
A friend doesn't invite me to something they are doing....Are we not really friends? Does she not like me?
The list could go on. Relate to any?
The sad thing, in reality, my friend probably had an awful week at work, busy up to her eyeballs and a boss exhausting her emotional abilities. Chris, well he's just tired. Up at 630am out the door until 8pm and he just wants a break before I attack him with my conversations I have been waiting all day to have cooped up in the house. Oh and my friend who went out without me? She knows I don't live on that side of town and what they were doing started at bedtime for Addison....she thought I'd say no and didn't want me to feel bad saying no...again.
I'm not sure we can actually stop making assumptions, I think its human nature. However, what if we just flip the script. Instead of assuming the WORST. What if we assumed POSITIVE INTENTIONS?!
Assume the guy at the grocery store who just brushed by you...is going through something really hard.
The mom who didn't see the light turn green...maybe has a crying baby in the back seat she is trying to calm down.
The person who replied to your text message with OK....doesnt mean OK with flames pouring out of their ears...but rather OK like your grandma would say to a game of gin rummy.
With everything that is going on right now, I felt like this was super relevant. We are ALL being touched by Covid19 in some way or another. Emotions are all over the scale, with many of us experiencing new emotions than ever before and changing emotions every 5 mins. There is no guidebook on how to manage this...but wouldn't that be nice?
So, just assume everyone right now is having a rough go at life. Give the person the extra 2 seconds to see the light change, clarify a text message if you feel like someone could be mad at you, give people the chance to explain. The simple opportunity to talk something out rather than ASSUME will change your life.
Trust me. Nothing is worth the pain, hurt, anger, or sadness caused by assumptions. Especially right now.
xx Sarah
