My mother always says that words are like eggs. They are delicate and fragile and when they fall, they can’t be picked anymore.

I guess it’s the reason why people say that words are powerful. Everyone says it. If anyone googles the sentence ‘Words are powerful’, I’m sure there are a million phrases, quotes and articles on the power of words. This write up might join that queue because when I’m done with it, I know I would have sprinkled enough ‘words are powerful’ keywords in it.

It’s funny I hear it every time, but I never gave it a lot of thought until recently when I found myself in an uncomfortable situation with someone very dear to me. I realised how instrumental words are in the expression of our thoughts and feelings, especially during communication.

What I find intriguing about words is how they can mean different things to different people during communication. I find more intriguing the impact of perspectives during communication and how our emotions dictate how we give meaning to words during the process of communication.

You see, I overthink a lot. I take my time to process conversations; how every word is said, including syntax and semantics, facial expressions, and even body language-when words fail.

This uncomfortable situation I had with this person started with just a sentence. I dissected it into a thousand meanings-the reasons behind what they said and what prompted it; which made me start questioning everything they had ever said and did to me. I became paranoid. I dug deep and threw myself in it. When I brought it up with the person, it wasn’t even as deep as I had taken it.

‘It’s all gist and it’s not even about us,’ they said.

I had to go through rounds of reassurance and explanation from them before I could bring myself out of the hole I had dug. It was then I realised that we perceive the same reality differently depending on our personal beliefs, values and motives.

I think we all need to understand that there’s a high level of delicacy to words and that we need to pause and ask ourselves:

• How is the person feeling right now?
• What type of person are they?
• What are their values and beliefs?
• What are their experiences?

When we put ourselves in other people’s shoes, it aids our ability to communicate properly and helps us to see both the objective and subjective perception of our realities.

P.S If you are an overthinker like me, the only way you can solve that is to get clarity immediately. Abeg, no give yourself hypertension!