I Hope this Email Finds You in Hell

I hope this finds you well. No, I really don’t. Not that I wish you ill will. It’s that I despise mundane, polite, disingenuous communication. Also, please don’t ask me how I am if you don’t care. I know that many of you are trying to be polite and offering it as a greeting; however, a simple nod of your head in my direction, or a “hello” will suffice. There is no need to pretend you have time or consideration for my well-being and state of affairs. We both know the majority of you don’t.

The intricacies and styles of communication I encounter daily, vary with each human and their preferences, moods, time of day, and whether said human has consumed enough snacks to nullify a hangry mode. We persevere. We send more emails than anyone wants to read.  We try so hard to maintain some sense of professionalism that someone created that nullifies our humanity. We pretend we care about someone by asking intensely personal questions as we continue walking down a hallway in the opposite direction without waiting for a reply….

What is the most frustrating part of communication? Is it trying to convey something that you can’t quite articulate? Is it when you want someone to understand you…and they don’t? Is it when you have communicated in lengthy form and multiple ways and there is a lack of comprehension? Or is it that you must talk to or engage with other humans….at all?

I love engaging with people. My main reason for this is that humans are so incredibly messy. Many people try not to be. Or we pretend we are the exception to this messiness, and we have got it figured out. We create organized chaos with whatever works for us: spirituality, work, religion, fitness, health, and more beauty samples than we can contain in one Caboodles... or two. And really, I revel in our messiness. I adore the darkness and the sharp edges; the cracks in the surface that let the light of the human shine through.

I believe that our overall ability to connect post-COVID in an authentic and meaningful way has been diminished. I am not sure why. Perhaps, it is a lack of trust, polarization, and an innate loss of connection with ourselves and who we are now. I believe it’s more than one thing.

I told a co-worker that one day, I hope to receive an email that starts with, “I hope this email finds you in hell”; because with that one sentence, I will have an authentic human display of emotion, which I treasure over all the polite conversation in the world.

Warmly,

A woman who is always unabashedly herself