Interpreting Words

Interpreting Words

I was taught as a young adult that communication was the key to a successful marriage. I was told countless times by my parents to openly convey my feelings. In the home where I grew up it was never an issue to use words to convey meanings we talked about everything together. Emotions were on constant display so we could try to understand each other and sometimes just stay out of each other’s way. Over time my idea had led me to believe that if I talked with my wife and she would talk to me we would understand each other and each other’s emotions. I still understand that we are two unique individuals and would see things differently than each other. Who will agree on everything? That is the beauty of personality. After we were married I found out that we didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things not just a few but it seemed more often than not we were battling each other on who’s turn it was to have the correct idea or way of thinking. We never experienced this with such magnitude while dating it actually has been a burden and has annoyed me really bad.

Then some sense finally came as I was sitting in a class that is altering the very way I think and learn from day to day. One day In class I learned “words don’t convey meanings they call them forth” such a profound statement! I realized that what I say doesn’t fully convey what I am thinking and feeling in that moment. By this I mean the interpretation of the words conveyed could be completely different in my eyes than how it is interpreted in another’s eyes or my wife’s eyes.