We All Have A Story

When you do take the time to listen, you find things out about a person that may help break down the walls.  We all have a story, a background and most likely, our own baggage.

As they say, you need to walk a mile in someone's shoes before you can judge them.  As we go through our work day, we can get caught up with things that are really unimportant and because we may have a lot on our plate, we have a tendency to be short with others.

Sometimes, it may not have anything to do with that particular person at the time, but more to do with the person we just hung up with or a family situation that we are dealing with.  Most of the time, if you talk long enough and have the patience, you can find out why the person is upset and help dismantle the tension.

Have you tried to find a bridge with that person or find out anything about them?

I do think that sometimes our social media sites can be a bit too intrusive but I also think it can shed more light on the people that you know and work with.  It makes them more real.  You find out that they do have a life...a family...hobbies and maybe it helps sparks other conversations.

I absolutely believe that most people want to do good and are good people.  What happens is sometimes, we get preconceived notions of people, perhaps from others or from a bad conversation that we had in the past.

We all say things at times that we know we could have said better or differently but words are hard to take back.  The hardest thing to learn and to practice is to let things go and forgive, but when we find that key, we will find freedom....freedom in our home life as well as our business life.

Many people keep things in but when you find out all the things they may be battling, you have a new found respect.

We have an agent in the Arpin system who has a lovely family, married with three young boys, all under 12.  One summer, the mother finds out she has cancer and needs to start chemotherapy right before the summer season.  On top of this, their house caught on fire and burned to the ground with everything in it.  We worked the whole summer together and she nor her husband ever let on to all that they had been going through.

She, her husband and three young boys lived in a trailer that whole summer while she had her treatments and went to work every day.

I didn't find out myself until our convention and that was only because my wife had a casual conversation with the mother.  When my wife told me that night, I was flabbergasted.  I had no idea.  I could not imagine what their days and nights must have been like that summer.

Like I said, we all have stories.  Take the time to listen, ask, care and try to understand that we are all in this together.  Try to walk a mile in someone's shoes before you judge.