Destructive love?

I used to work with someone that I felt was not a nice person. I didn’t see her being kind. I thought she was mean and condescending to her friends, she gossiped about people constantly, and I saw her lash out, at least on a weekly basis.

Doing this project together was something I definitely wasn’t looking forward to. But, I got a chance to listen to her. As she spoke about others, I saw a common theme. She thought people were against her at every turn.

What came first – the chicken or the egg? Maybe at this point, she saw so many against her because of what she was giving out to the world.

What she gave out was reflected back to her, and people did not want to be around her.

I don’t know what her story was that brought her to the point of thinking everyone was against her. She must have felt so disempowered.

And when you’re feeling disempowered, you often take down other people with you to be at your level.

You don’t want to feel alone. My colleague’s destructiveness was actually a mechanism for her to try and find love.

Realizing this was a way for me to have compassion for her. Not pity. It helped me not react to her so negatively.

Understanding is not only for them. It helps you feel lighter and unburdened by what has weighed them down for probably most of their lives.

And then just maybe the softness you give out will be received by the people who need it the most.