Tranquility

Communication can be a tricky bugger: what one person thinks they're saying is not necessarily what the other person thinks they're hearing. But, since for the most part, people are not going out of their way to be mean, I think it's always best to give the benefit of the doubt and to work on the basis that if something can be taken one of two ways, there's no point in assuming that the worse interpretation is the one that was meant.

And because I do work on the basis, maybe I get a little more shocked when it transpires that someone is deliberately causing trouble. I don't want to go into specifics here - not least because it's a work thing - but a few weeks ago someone did go out of their way to discredit my colleagues and me.

I'm really pleased with how we handled it. Nothing said in anger, no one kicking off - although perhaps a little bit of swearing - we just worked hard to set matters straight. It's become apparent this last couple of days that our client is very happy and that the whole episode has backfired on the person who was making trouble. And now it's all sorted, I've realised just how much the whole episode has been preying on my mind. Today, though, today I'm feeling tranquil.