Intentionality: Is That Even a Word?

Fellow Readers,

Hello again. I am going to try something different with this post. Instead of my usual rambling on about pointless stuff that most of y'all probably do not care about, I am just going to start with what I am calling, "the meat" of the post. After all, the meat is what I write these things for anyhow. I just like to fluff it up with a little anecdote or whatnot. I do feel like not all of those stories are completely pointless. But, I could understand how most of you would just get tired of reading them. I mean, sometimes I just go on, and on, and on, seemingly never ending, and I am sure that leaves you screaming in your mind, "JUST GET TO THE POINT ALREADY!" And I respect that. Which is why this time, I have decided not to babble.
So, with all of that being said, here we go.
When I was talking to my girlfriend (Yes, you read that correctly. I currently just started a relationship with someone. Things are going pretty well so far. Thanks for asking.) about things we both are struggling with, the common theme that kept coming up was intentionality. What do I mean by this? Well, I think as human beings, we need to be intentional in our actions and how we treat people. Let me unpack that even further. We often times have feelings about people (i.e. what they mean to us, or how they have impacted our lives, etc.) and we never tell them those feelings. A lot of times, we think they will always be around, and then by some horrific event (usually death) they are gone and we do not get the chance to tell them what they meant to us. I think (and this definitely applies to me here) a lot of the reasons why we do not tell people those things are because of how society has molded us. Guys, we are not supposed to share feelings like or else we will come off as a "sissy" or any other slur that means we are not manly. Why?? Wouldn't you want to know if you made an impact on someone's life? Wouldn't you want to know that someone loves you? Wouldn't you want to know that all of your effort you have been putting into a relationship with someone hasn't been for not? I know I would want to know those things. So, why don't we tell people those things when we are feeling them? I love this example from the book, Tuesdays With Morrie. It is a fantastic book. If you ever get the chance to read it, I highly encourage you to. Anyway, in the book, Morrie is dying from ALS. So, he decided he wanted to have a "living funeral." What he wanted was to have a funeral while he was still alive. His reasoning was because at funerals, often times every person that speaks about the late whomever, has nothing but delightful things to say. So, he wanted to have a "funeral" for him, that he could attend so he could hear all of the good things people had to say about him. I think that is an awesome idea! We too often wait until someone dies to talk about how much they impacted our lives and how much they meant to us. How much better would things be if we lived life with this living funeral concept? What if we didn't wait until someone was out of our lives to tell them how much we enjoyed having them in our lives? I just think that would be awesome.
Another way we can be intentional in our lives is in our conversations with people, especially when we are first meeting someone. I know I get caught asking the same questions every time I meet someone new, most likely not even listening for their answers, just waiting until I can get the last question on my list out, and then somehow end the conversation. That is not right. That is not respecting that person at all, nor is it showing them love. But, I do it so frequently. Another example is if I see somebody I know somewhere, but I do not really want to talk to them, so I kind of duck-and-cover, or go out of my way to hopefully not be seen by them so I don't have to talk to them. Granted, I am not saying you have to go up to every person you see that you know and strike up a conversation with them, but don't go out of your way to avoid them. Just keep going how you are going, and if they happen to stop you and want to talk (and you have the time to talk) then talk with them. Be polite. You don't know what could be going on in their lives, or how much they just want to talk to someone. You literally could make someone's day by just talking to them. It is that simple.
Being intentional in our relationships is such an easy concept, but can be so hard to grasp. Whether it is society telling us not to, or our minds, we spend a lot of time in our relationships not being purposeful. If someone has impacted your life, tell them. Tell the people you love that you love them. Strike up a conversation with someone, and actually care about their response. Listen to them.
As always, thank you all again for reading.
Signing off.