When trust is not present , or when it is misunderstood, the consequences can be significant. Communication deteriorates. Defensive thinking creeps in. Stories are filled in rather than clarified. At this point, many people focus on blame: Who broke the trust? Who is right?

People-pleasing is linked to fear of rejection, need for approval, difficulty setting boundaries, lack of self-awareness, and control issues and is often rooted in learned behaviour when you were growing up.

When you are in a situation where you feel unsure, confused and stuck, there is a good chance that people around you will be advising you, in good faith, to get clarity, and to identify what you truly want. The reality, however, is that if it were that simple, you would have already done it, and I wouldn’t be writing this piece.

When older generations attempt to share their perspectives, they’re often shut down before they’ve even had a chance to explain themselves. This can feel disheartening and limiting, especially since their views are based on decades of life experience during a societal backdrop of different times, experience that could benefit others if only they were given a fair hearing. But we seem to be living in an era of binary thinking, where views are either “acceptable” or “offensive,

But consider this: by relying on "love" to capture everything we care about, we’re flattening complex emotions into a single word. Real relationships, whether with people, experiences, or even objects, are multifaceted. Reducing these connections to one simple, overused term risks losing sight of what each one truly means. Worse, it can stymie our growth, keeping us from exploring the deeper truths within our relationships and ourselves.