There’s a lot to be said for speaking your mind. There’s even more to be said for speaking it in a tactful manner.

A lot of people these days are praised for running their mouths. For being crass. For being the type of “blunt” that isn’t productive. For telling secrets that aren’t theirs. They get jobs because of it, they make millions off it. They turn lives and private matters into public fodder.

I spoke my mind in a not-so-productive manner at work once. To a coworker. It was brief, but it ended in me hanging up on them. Mature, right?

It wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made. I was frustrated with my role, and had been for a couple of years…not because of said individual, but because I was done with the job. I was done with the politics, the red tape, the BS, the everything. The job would’ve been fine otherwise. Yet I hung up on someone who didn’t deserve it. I think the only person I’d hung up on before that time was a dude I dated in my mid-20s…and I only did that because he liked to be completely drunk when he’d call. Who has the time?

I should’ve given my time to my coworker, but I didn’t. I let my environment get the better of me. Don’t we all at some point or another?

There are some people who move through life with such a wake in their shadow that they almost seem deserving of my treatment. This guy wasn’t one of them, however. He was just in my wake.

Tonight I am thankful for knowing that environments can take over, and that we should all be more aware of our responses. I was aware a little too late, but the number of times I’ve thought of that situation could’ve made me a millionaire by now…or at least helped me accumulate a down payment on some property. Here’s to being aware of our environments, of the true cause of any angst and to not taking others out as we struggle to stay afloat.

The phrase, “If you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all” is more true more frequently than we realize. May we all tune into it.