At my day job, I work in a fairly quiet area by myself for the most part. There is however a door right beside me where people enter from the hallway and walk past my work station into another room. This door opens and closes numerous times throughout the day and I never know who to expect. But 9 times out of 10 the person passing through will usually make a random comment to me as they walk by. Sometimes it is a simple “good morning.” Sometimes it is a remark about how warm it is in my area. And sometimes it is a place where people feel comfortable to vent frustrations. “I hate this place.” “Is it Friday yet?” “Can anything else go wrong today?” So and so “isn’t doing his job and I am having to pick up the slack!” and so on and so on. Occasionally there are cheery comments but for the most part it seems to be a breezeway to let off some steam.
My presence on the inside of that door seems to be a place of comfort. I do not think there is anything special about me however that allows these people to express themselves in this manner as they pass by. I believe if someone else besides me were there, the same thing would be happening. We all need a door to vent to sometimes. No, it is not attractive to be the negative Nancy who walks around complaining about everything to everyone all of the time. But, it is not good for the soul to keep everything bottled up inside either. It is good to just talk in general. We ALL have a need to be heard and understood. And I think it is just as important to strive to be a good listener as well. Our job is to support and encourage one another so that we all make it through.
I depend on others to be my door. My best friend reads my texts messages or listens to me vent when I see her and even if she doesn’t have an answer for me, she always listens. If you read my blog regularly you know that this is a form of expressing my feelings, good or bad. So I thank you for listening! My Pastor listened to me vent for an hour yesterday and when I was finished he basically told me I already had all of the answers to the questions or problems I was venting about…and he was right. But it just helps to let it all out sometimes.
When someone reaches out to you, do your part and really listen to them. Don’t try and think of what you want to say next while they are talking. Really listen. Make them feel important…because they are. Be a door for someone. And use that door yourself too. Don’t keep it all on the inside. Sometimes it takes effort to talk to someone but just do it anyway.
Also, if you have encouraging words for someone…do not hesitate to tell that person. It could be EXACTLY what they needed to hear to cross a hurdle that has been holding them back. This happened to me this week. (Thank you Dimitris…I said I wouldn’t but I changed my mind 🙂 )
Those are my thoughts for today…
Stacey ~ iamalive