Once spoken, words live in someone else's memory. Choose them carefully.
In this reflection we honor the weight of what we say.
You said something you did not mean. In anger, in frustration, in a moment when your worst self took the wheel. Words came out that you cannot put back in. And now they live in someone else's memory, doing damage you cannot undo.
Words are irreversible. You can apologize, explain, contextualize. But you cannot unsay. The person heard it. They filed it away. In some quiet corner of their mind, those words now live forever. You put them there.
This is the weight of communication. Every word is permanent, even if feelings are temporary. The thing you said in a moment of anger becomes a fact about what you are capable of saying. No matter how much you regret it, it is now true that you said it.
Some things cannot be forgiven. Some words cross lines that cannot be uncrossed. Some damage is done in seconds that takes years to repair, if it can be repaired at all. This is not hyperbole. This is experience most people have had at least once.
The pause before speaking is not weakness. It is wisdom. It is recognizing that what comes out of your mouth cannot go back in. That anger fades but words remain. That the temporary relief of saying the cruelest thing you can think of comes at a permanent cost.
If you said something you cannot take back, own it. Do not explain it away or minimize it. Acknowledge the harm. Let the person feel what they feel. And carry this as a reminder: next time, pause. Breathe. Remember that words are forever.
Speak like you know this now. Because you do.
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