The night before I taught a class on difficult conversations, I received an email about how much time we can spend rehearsing conversations we’re avoiding. The timing was perfect. 😊

We plan what we’re going to say, imagine how the other person will respond, come up with an answer to that response, and before long we’ve had the entire conversation so many times in our heads. Preparation is helpful, but sometimes we’re looking for the perfect words because we hope that if we say it exactly right, the other person won’t get upset. We can rehearse all we want, but we can’t control how the other person reacts.