Be open. And then the truth follows.-Gangji
I had a meeting that had been on my schedule for weeks. I didn't want to cancel but I knew that I wasn’t in the best space mentally either. My dad had been in the hospital for over a week and his condition seemed to be stable enough that I could get some work done outside his hospital room.
I knew that as soon as this meeting was over, I could get back to him. When I arrived at my meeting, I let her know about my dad’s condition and apologized in advance if I seemed distracted because in all honesty, I was.
I didn’t go into great detail but wanted to make sure she knew I wasn’t disinterested but had a lot on my mind. What I got out of that disclaimer was more than I could have imagined. We bonded as she opened up about her mom’s health problems and the emotions that surround aging parents. The meeting ended and as we parted ways, I realized through my honesty came a deeper connection.
Takeaways: Provide a disclaimer upfront. You don't need to go into details but provide some transparency.
This helps the other person to actually listen to what is being said in the conversation instead of running through all the sceneries of why I'm acting out of character with my short responses and uptight composure.