Clearing the Air
October 22, 2018
Why is it that we walk over the obvious disconnects or negative feelings between people in meetings? Clearing the air, or acknowledging that something needs to be discussed, is the key to healthy relationships.
TRANSCRIPT
Have you ever been in a meeting where you don't feel comfortable? As a matter of fact, you don't trust one or two people in the room so much that little voice in your head that is talking about how bad they are or how much you don't trust them is drowning out any content whatsoever that's going on in the meeting. And it's affecting your mood. It's affecting your posture.
It's affecting everything. But you don't say anything about it. You just kinda bottle it up and hold it in and get frustrated. And as a matter of fact, at that point, you can't really hear anything good that might be being said.
You would only be hearing the things that confirm what you already think. What's so interesting about this because it's it can become so debilitating, yet we can go on like this for many, many years or months at a time in in any relationship at work or at home. I like to think of this as imagine that you walked into that same office and you started to smell rubber burning. And the smell was so overwhelming that, you know, you got up and you opened the window and everybody said, oh my god.
It stinks in here. We gotta do something about this. And you wouldn't think twice about opening the windows, clearing the air. But in relationship, we will go on and on and on for months and weeks at a time and never clear the air, which is exactly what's needed so that you can think again, so that you can create and that you can be more effective.
Now the clearing the air when you're doing it in relationship requires respect. It requires you to tell your truth, say what's on your mind, say what's bugging you or say what what happened that has you not trust somebody.
But you've gotta do it respectfully so that you don't make it worse. My recommendation is to not bottle it up, to get it out in the open and make things better. Don't just sit on it or talk to other people about it. Because while you're talking to other people, you're spreading the poison, and it's affecting you. It's affecting your health. It's affecting your ability to communicate and contribute could cost you a promotion. It could cost you, your happiness.
So clearing the air is critical to being an effective human.
