One thing I have always believed in and stood by is the fact that you don't know what anyone is going through. You could say the smallest thing that could make or break their day. And when I look at the dynamic between different people that I know, I truly realize what this means.
To some people, it means getting up and making it through the day. To other it means having a day booked from start to finish. And to some it means sleeping throughout the day and working all night.
I was talking about work and school with a friend the other day and realized just how different life looks to different people. For me, it's waking up at 8 am every day, 6 days a week, to do school, homework, volunteering, work, practice, etc. For them, it's staying up till 2 am to do homework or work and sleeping until noon the next day. I work 10 hours a week because of all my other extracurricular activities, and they work 40 hours a week because they just have school and work. Another one of my friends starts work at 11pm and gets off I don't know when. Another friend, doesn't work at all and only has school, and well, a lot of free time. Some people, like me, try to find time to spend with friends. Others try to fill all of their free time.
My week consists of 19 hours of school, 10+ hours of work, 4 hours of practice, 4 hours of volunteering, and about 4 hours of working out.
My friend's week consists of 12 hours of school and 40 hours of work.
The point behind all of this is that you don't know what someone's going through or not going through at the time. You don't know what their week looks like. They could be this close to hitting their wall for the week and one thing that you say to them could make or break that for them. I do my best to make sure that if I'm going to say something to someone that it's something positive because what I say could send them over the edge.
I've been the person on the other side that was about to hit my wall and one comment drove me straight through that wall. I've also been at the point of almost hitting my wall and one simple compliment made my whole day.
It's all about how mindful you are in what you say because you don't know what that person's world looks like right now; and you wouldn't want to be the one that sent them through their wall.
"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
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