The single most important lesson in life
90% of my advice could be this: say what you need to say. Yes, that is a John Mayer song. Sorry about that. The truth is, the world would run a whole lot more smoothly if people spoke up.
Open your mouth and say the words, write them down, sign them, send morse code, sing it, do an interpretative dance to it. Say you need help with math or your college choices or depression or friends or your inability to do a cats cradle. Say I like you, or I don’t like you like that, or I’m sorry, or you hurt me. Say you don’t want to go to the college your parents want you to or that you wanna go to assassin school to be a world class hitman or monkey trainer school to work at the circus. (Before you turn this around on me, you never NEED to say that someone is ugly or stupid or their hair looks terrible- unless they’re your best friend and they ask.)
Why? Because your sighing just sounds like you’re deflating. Slamming the room to your door doesn’t explain anything. Glaring doesn’t convey your problem. Your loved ones are watching you, wondering what is wrong, waiting for you to explain it to them. So suck it up, gather your courage, and speak up.
