A Different Kind of Climate Change

This week was another “short” week, due to Columbus Day (or Indigenous Peoples’ Day). Nonetheless, I still did some learning, and this week’s lesson was on intrapersonal and interpersonal communication. My class took another set of individual and team quizzes, and I’m happy to report that I think the betting went a little bit better than last time. (Click here if you want to read more about the first quiz experience.)

The topic of today's post is interpersonal communication- specifically, types of climate and messages. First, a quick lesson: climate in regard to communication is basically the overall tone or vibe between people. The two types of climate are confirming and disconfirming, which we create through the use of recognition, acknowledgement, or endorsement messages. Learning about these messages made me think about how they appear in my own life, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on that...

So to begin with, two things that I really value are being open-minded and being kind to others. I truly try to be the type of person who people feel that they can come to when they need someone to listen. I strive to create a confirming climate. Recently, I’ve been hearing that some of my friends have been going through difficult times with school, relationships, and just life in general. I send them acknowledgment and endorsement messages, so that they know they can talk to me and to validate how they are feeling. I'm still trying to find the right balance between endorsing how they feel, but also offering advice and reassurance. I want my friends to know that they are right to feel the way they feel, but I also know they might want more than just validation. For problems that I can relate to, I want to say that I understand, but I also don't want it to sound like I am brushing off the issue. Because how terrible would it be if someone were to tell you to just get over your problem or that you're making it up? One of my friends actually said that a few of her "friends" did just that. My friend was going through a rough time and tried to talk to her friends about it. They basically told her she was annoying them. It made my friend feel like she was unimportant and no one cared.

So, this is why I propose a climate change (and not the weather kind!). Through my friendships, relationships, and learnings this week, my takeaway is that I wish everyone could reflect on the climate that they are creating within their own friendships and relationships. Everyone is going through their own issues, whether they want to share them or not. What we can do is make sure that more people have a positive climate rather than a negative one, if they do have something to share. I mean, we're all human, and sometimes when life gets tough, we just need that one other person who can listen and say, hey, I'm here for you.