This is for all of the people who prefer to deliver even the toughest messages gently: you are a gift to humankind at this time in our history.
It isn’t just because times are extremely difficult for so many people. It is because you have an understanding of the importance of gentleness many people cannot or will not embrace.
You know, probably from your own experience, that people often have emotional wounds they have carried for much of their lives. Some of them are unaware of their wounds and think that is just who they are. Some are aware and are doing the hard work of healing. In either case, those wounds affect how they interact with other people. You understand that, and with every interaction you make a conscious effort to minimize the painful impact your words and actions can unknowingly have on others.
Some people do not appreciate this aspect of you. They may call you “soft” or have little patience for your gentle approach to them, let alone to others. But you understand their own woundedness is the reason for their resistance. So you are gentle (but firm as needed) even in the face of their wrath or attempts to manipulate you.
Thank you for all of the hearts you have not broken, for all of the healing your kindness has facilitated, and for all of the growth your gentleness has made space for. You are the emotional equivalent of the outdoor adventurer’s vow to leave the spaces they passed through better than they were when they first arrived. All of us are better because of your presence in the world.