The way you want to be heard is the way those you love and respect want to be heard.
The way you have great ideas and you want to share it and be proud, those who you love and respect have great ideas that they can’t wait to share with you and be proud
The way you feel anxiety, the way those who you love and respect feel anxiety.
The way you feel hurt when others don’t listen or pay attention, the way those who you love and respect feel hurt when you don’t listen and pay attention.
I make this mistake too much, and I think I finally get why. It’s a sign that I need to grow, to get my confidence and contentment from the inside, and use that as a well for my friends and loved ones. It’s so easy to understand how we feel, but it’s trivially easy to miss the signs that someone feels ignored by you, or unheard by you. How fast would you feel it if you were the one who was unheard?
Perhaps, at the end of every day, I’m going to ask myself: “What’s something interesting that your inner circle has told you about themeselves? How are they emotionally and physically?”
It’s going to take practice, but building strong, life-long relationships that we want doesn’t come from speaking, it comes from listening.