It’s taken me a long time to really grasp this simple life hack. As a conflict adverse person, I used to mistake seeking clarification for rocking the boat. I thought miscommunications were my fault, seeking to fill in the gaps with my assumptions instead of asking the person concerned. How could I possibly know what someone meant better than they did? But nevertheless it was a habit that I have only recently kicked. Assumptions serve no one. If it’s on your mind what someone meant by what they said — I implore you to seek out the gap from the source. Relieve yourself of the minutes or hours you would have spent in interpretation mode. Even if it might seem scary to clarify if it’s a conclusion you may not want to hear, I promise it’s better to know now than later. Seek out clarity through communication or if that’s not an option for you — release it from your mind. We don’t necessarily need to know what everything means anyway. There’s also not necessarily a deeper meaning to what someone’s said or the way they’ve said it. Sometimes it’s ok to not know too.