Every fight is an opportunity to build trust

A buddy of mine in college would say this every time he made a new friend,

𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.

And whenever he said that I would look at him like he was crazy.

One day, I asked him to explain this crazy theory.

He said, 𝘕𝘪𝘬𝘩𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱.𝘞𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 & 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.

And that always stuck with me.

⚔️ Most of us avoid uncomfortable conversations like the plague.

Any tension in the workplace just stresses us out.

And if we get "feedback", we feel attacked & exhausted afterward.

🧐 But what if we reframed it in a different light?

🙌 What if we saw conflicts as our most authentic selves really meeting each other?

Then we wouldn't dread having a talk with a coworker who keeps letting us down.

We'd see it as a chance to understand what they're going through & to assert ourselves in a real way.

No matter how messy or volatile it gets, as long we're respectful

We're always going to come out of it a little bit wiser

A little more honest & true to ourselves.

👊 And believe it or not, a bit more closer with each other as well.