Speak for Yourself at Work

When at work, it's almost impossible to avoid conflict entirely. As you know, we all come to work for earning a wage to support our basic needs. Beyond that, some of us work for certain values and beliefs, while some of us work for more money than basic needs. There are still other incentives such as fame, power, fun, knowledge, friendships (friendships?)....anything you can think of.



Different motivation leads to conflict, and the desire to enlarge our own benefit leads to conflict, too. Sometimes I choose to retain myself and be conformative. Sometimes, I just need to speak up for myself and let others know what I feel inside. What I really believe is the right thing to do, the necessary thing to do.

It is hard though. As the one you are most prone to face conflict with is your supervisor, who has the power over you and also generally has the closest working relationship with you.

I spoke for myself at work today. I did not avoid conflict, I chose to face it instead. After today, this will be what I do in the future --- to speak for myself and not be afraid of conflict.

If I avoid conflict all the time, I might be keeping a better relationship with my supervisor or not. The thing is, I'll be unhappy. I think if the "worrying about whether to say it or not" takes up so much time either when you're working or not working, you'd rather just say it. What can you lose at worst? You can always find another job. You only have one life in this life. Be yourself.