Definitions: Why They Matter and How They Impact Our Relationships
- Guided Therapy Collective
- Jul 20
- 2 min read
If you ask anyone who has worked with our founder; as a client, colleague, student, or supervisee- you will hear about her self proclaimed obsession with “definitions”.
Whether this stems from trauma, survival mode, defense mechanisms, or somewhere less appealing, the consistent finding is the same: the definitions we assign to words and experiences shape how we relate to everything and everyone around us.
Understanding what definition we are giving to a particular word or phrase plays a key role in understanding how everyone who comes into contact with it is impacted.
Many times a word is used pretty frequently and we mistakenly assume that our definition of this word is universal. What happens next is that our closest relationships suffer from misalignment due to miscommunication. And what is the key component in this miscommunication? That the parties involved happened to have completely different definitions about what was being talked about. It was never about the word itself- it was about the assumption.
Some will read that and think “well I am not in a relationship so this does not affect me”- and again, we need to bring up definitions.
When we hear the word “relationship”, we tend to associate it with romance. But relationships have been a core part of being human since we came to be. We have various relationships that shape who we are. The relationship with our family, the relationships with our friends, and most importantly- the relationship with ourselves.
The words we use matter, and there’s a good chance we don’t think about this as much as we could. The next time something feels off or out of place, ask yourself if perhaps there was a different meaning being attributed to the exchange that could completely upend how that last interaction went.
Is it possible you were never actually talking about the same thing?
You deserve that clarity, and so do your relationships.
To learn more about therapy, ask questions, or schedule you free consult, start here.
