Clear Communication is Often Misunderstood

My relationship continues to teach me crucial lessons for living a healthy life.

I thought I knew what clear communication was. I thought communication was just about words. I thought communication was a tool to get what you wanted.

Now that I’ve been in a relationship for over a year, I’ve learned that communication is a much more powerful tool and is underrated and misunderstood for creating a healthy life and lifestyle.

Much of what we see as communication is simply the transfer of information. On the surface, it is, but we do so much more when we communicate.

By communicating, we express our feelings, thoughts, and emotions. We share a part of ourselves, and we do so to try to be understood.

Unfortunately, not everyone hears what we are trying to say, and what we truly want to express gets miscommunicated or misinterpreted.

When this happens, I’ve noticed many of us throw in the towel and give up after the first attempt.

I’ve done this so many times in the past, and this isn’t a good habit because perhaps the other person just needed you to explain more, and they would have understood what you were trying to say.

Being in a relationship has taught me how one person says something differs from how the other person receives the same message.

Giving up after saying something once and the other person not understanding or misinterpreting it is a mistake.

We must continue to make an effort to explain ourselves properly, especially to the people whom we love and care about.

After all, the only way to have a healthy relationship with your partner, family members, or friends is to properly communicate your needs and wants.

I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of times how important communication is.

But I’m beginning to realize we truly don’t understand clear communication.

I believe clear communication is when your message has been received by the other person, and there are no misinterpretations or questions lingering about what was meant.

But more importantly, clear communication is a dialogue that takes time, effort, and patience to accomplish.

I’ve learned that patience is a huge component of being able to communicate clearly.

Having patience with the other person if they have questions or need further clarification.

It’s really frustrating when you’re having a conversation with someone, and you want further clarification, but they shut you down, and instead, you’re left with more questions.

It’s equally as frustrating when someone thinks you don’t understand them, and all you want to do is have a dialogue so you can come to a place where you do understand what they’re trying to say, but they refuse to take the time to explain further.

Clear communication is misunderstood because I believe people think it’s saying your message once, and that’s it. Either people get it, or they don’t.

I disagree.

Clear communication is taking the time and making an effort to have a dialogue and discuss with the other person their perspective.

It’s taking the time to stand in their shoes for a moment and hear where they are coming from.

But for that communication to be effective, the other person has to do the same for you.

It’s a two-way street, and I find this is why it’s difficult for clear communication to happen between two parties.

Most of the time, only one person is willing to listen and understand.

It’s difficult to find a person who is willing to listen.

This doesn’t mean you can’t teach someone to do the same. You can. They need to be willing to learn. A person like this is also hard to find, but it’s definitely possible.

If you’re looking to work on your communication, I believe this is where you need to start.

I used to think that if people didn’t understand what I said the first time, they didn’t get me, and there was no point in talking further.

In my relationship, I’ve learned that first, I needed to change how I thought about communication.

I realized I needed to have patience and grace for the other person and make the effort to explain myself further if need be.

Once you make this switch in your mind, you’ll begin to communicate more effectively.

It’s not about saying it once and the other person getting it. This does happen, but it’s not the most important point.

The major point is to have your message be understood, and this will take time and effort.

Tell me, what have you learned while trying to improve how you communicate?