Don’t Burn That Bridge!

How do you blow up a bridge in under 10 seconds?  You let your emotions get the best of you. It is so easy.  You get really upset and steam about it for minutes, hours and even days.  Then you act!

A comment, an email, a gesture or even the lack of any of these when otherwise called for.

Take it from me: you burn it and it will take years, if even possible at all, to repair it.

This week I came across three bridges that I was so close to blowing up.  In each case, I was about to say something to someone who, in my judgement, deserved to be spoken to.  But to what end? 

And this is where I saved two of those bridges. By asking “to what end”, I was able to see that the ultimate outcome would only see me feeling better about the situation and the other person probably never speaking to me again. And that would have been a big mistake.

And guess what?  By not saying what I wanted to say, and by taking a very different approach, I actually saw a different side of things in those cases.

So, be careful about burning your bridges. You will be very surprised when the obstacle or object of your anger comes back into your life and that bridge is staring at you – still in pretty rough shape.

Don’t go there. Hold your tongue or keyboard.  Think about the end result and exactly who your actions are going to help.  If the answer is ‘you – because you will feel better saying something’, then don’t do it.  It is not worth it.  Suck it up and move along.

You see, later in life, and in my case that time span was only a few months, good things might happen – just because you didn’t burn the bridge.

By the way, did I say I came across three bridges and saved two of them?  I am still considering the third.  I need to read this post again.