If I am direct with my needs or wants, what if you turn away because that doesn’t work for you?

I am recognizing, seen through the lens of my business life, that this is a major fear that I have. Yet, this attitude leaves me in never never land with others possibly unsure what to do, and with me following instead of leading.

In part I am unsteady trusting my own desires. What if I am wrong?

The thing is – we are often wrong, but if we do not start somewhere, then what?

This pattern has risen to the forefront lately, and I recently put myself out there more directly in four relationships. In doing so, I lost a potential employee (I’m guessing that I only discovered a bad fit sooner rather than later, but it feels a tremendous loss); I strengthened a family member relationship; I gained a client; and I am working with someone to mend a relationship after a miscommunication that left us both confused.

In business relationships, personal relationships, friends and family relationships, and even our relationship with ourselves – we can make them stronger through direct communication. However, you might also lose some people along the way. What’s more important? Deep, honest relationships, openly sharing what each person wants/needs? Or a surface, unsure, relationship where you are only trying to please the other and follow a mold that someone else set?