I think acting on feelings or misunderstandings without appreciating the unknown variables of any situation is something we are all guilty of from time to time.
We make decisions or judgements about people, companies, subjects, or situations without the context to really intelligently do it. I know I struggle with it constantly.
In any situation having access to the whole story becomes increasingly important to knowing who you’re dealing with and why they are acting the way they are.
I understand the multitude of scenarios which occur in daily life how easy it is to misunderstand, and be misunderstood… I also can’t help but advocate for always knowing as much as possible prior to making a judgement call.
This has been bouncing around in my head lately and I find myself almost involuntarily asking people:
“What does that mean? ”
“What do you mean by that?”
“How is that related?”
“Can you explain that to me?”
Since reading this, I can’t help but continue through this confusing little exercise.
If you find some people close to you acting in a way you can’t understand. Try even though I know you don’t want to, to remember that you aren’t them and you aren’t in their life. You have no idea what external variables are playing into what seems like strange behavior to you… But you don’t know what you don’t know, and what you don’t know is probably the explanation.
One odd day they may pop up and share with you. On that day you may understand but this will in most scenarios, never happen.
When you can’t get to the bottom of something you just have to trust your gut, and let it go.
It may be consuming them but that doesn’t require it to consume you.