Silence Speaks Volumes

When you say nothing, you are actually saying a lot. Staying silent will be interpreted into many different ways: anger, total disregard for the situation, lack of confidence, fear for making the situation even worse and the list goes on. Silence is a great way to collect and settle one’s thoughts to calm the storm of a difficult day, however in the time of conflict or a heated discussion or in the midst of a problem, THAT silence needs to be broken.

It is unsettling when you do not have a glimmer of what the other person is thinking. When I find myself in this type of situation,  I say what I need to say. If I am dealing with someone who does not voice their opinion, it makes me feel as though I am just wasting my time and nothing will get through to the other person. It makes me feel as though I am going crazy, because perhaps I am the only one imagining the entire conflict, or the other person simply does not care enough to acknowledge what is happening. It makes me feel as though I am not important enough to talk to. In a heated conversation we all say things that we do not mean, so perhaps being silent is the best thing? But once everything is all said and done, and the opportunity arises to talk it out and solve the issue at hand, being silent is not the way to go. I can understand if someone is silent, it may be because they have a fear of escalating the conflict even more, but this will only bury the issue, it is still bubbling under the surface. Nobody wishes to say something that may be potentially harmful to the other person after a massive conflict. You are on thin ice with the other person and do not know how the will react, but things left unsaid will turn into an awkward situation that can be avoided if everyone just talks it out. Talking will allow everyone in the situation to be on the same page so the issue can have a means of being solved.

Last I checked we are all human (unless you are not comment below! :)), we all have our opinions and we all react differently, being passive does not help the situation. Being passive will make things worse. There will always be an awkwardness in the air because it is not apparent what the passive person is feeling and as a result, the non-passive person does not want to say something that will upset the other. In short, nothing will be resolved if someone is silent.

We did a post on talking; speaking out when you have something to say because you may have a positive impact on someone’s life. The reason I am bringing this post up is because when we do not talk it can be interpreted as a lack of confidence. It conveys to the other person that you are unsure about what it is you have to say, and you doubt a fruitful outcome from your input. Say what you need to say, because … trust me if you don’t it will come out in a very unexpected way.

~Break the silence