One conversation was pretty pleasant. The other one not so much. They happened on different days, about a week apart. In the first conversation, there were 3 of us. The whole conversation was easy to have. Each person shared their perspective on the topic we were on. We each listened to the other and asked questions to understand. As I listened to each of them, I was pleased to hear their ideas and opinions. It helped me to understand why they felt what they felt and also added valuable information to my knowledge base. It seemed like we all understood and respected each other more for sharing our thoughts.
The second conversation was me and another person. In contrast, to the people in the first conversation, this person was intense. They weren’t yelling or anything, but they wanted me to have the same viewpoint as them. I listened to them and let them explain their viewpoint and why they felt how they did. I stayed calm and collected the entire time, even when they asked questions to challenge me—not to understand me. I told them multiple times I didn’t want to argue. In the end, I had to respectfully end the conversation because they kept trying to impose their views on me in a toxic way. I walked away feeling sad and a bit heavy because it really didn’t have to go that way if both of us could’ve simply been open-minded and respect the other’s view. However, on a positive note, it reminded me how important it is to practice active listening, to make it a point to try to understand someone’s viewpoint, to accept that we’re going to see things differently, to evaluate our own perspectives and make sure we’re being open-minded, and to do our part to educate ourselves in the areas that we are not familiar with.
