Everyone has had a bad day, maybe a bad week. How do you react?
Today, talking with a peer, we were reminded that there are many key factors in maturity and that it is a process. A part of growing up and doing life well is learning how to deal with hurt and anger in a healthy way. When a friend says hurtful words, are you passive and hold it against them? When a there is a misunderstanding with someone, do you ignore them or go on gossiping? When you have a disagreement or have a strong opinion that another does not agree with, do you get angry and walk away steaming mad?
It is not wrong to get hurt or angry, those emotions are real. When we take hurt and let it be a pain we can hold onto to be the victim, in the long run it is not worth it. Holding a pain of yours against someone is not good for any relationship, or even your mental health for that matter. Good can come from confrontation and clarification. You may not be best friends with the one whom there is conflict, but what about mutual respect? What about knowing that you made an honest effort to be a good person and to clear an issue? Can you be satisfied to agree to disagree?
There are better things for us to do than stu about a grudge that we did not bother to fix. Let go of the right to be angry, it was never ours to begin with. I am a christian, I believe that God is real and that a man named Jesus Christ took on the punishment for every sin. Every lie. Every grudge. Every angry fight. We have all felt disrespected by someone who handled a situation wrong, as well as been the one who did the wrong. So what happens when you can take the high road, if you sincerely respected everyone? You do not have to be everyone's best friend, but you can be known as a good friend in how you handle the good and bad.
