5 Signs You're Hiding a Problem Instead of Handling It

Something breaks.

And in the first moment, you know that this is real.

This needs to be boosted up the chain quickly.

But then a second voice arrives and it's faster than the first.

And that voice goes, maybe not yet.

Maybe I can quietly fix this and never have to say a word.

And you tell yourself a great story about why you're waiting.

I'm buying time to solve it.

I don't want to alarm them over something that I can resolve.

I'll bring this to them once I have a solution.

But be honest with me.

Was that problem solving or was that relief? You didn't decide waiting was a smart play.

You felt the flush of dread about the conversation and you took the exit.

And then you dressed up the exit in a word that sounds responsible.

I'm handling it.

And that was so you'd never have to admit it was just fear of the reaction.

But here's what it quietly costs you.

Every day you sit on it, the problem doesn't just wait.

It grows a second problem on top of it.

And that's the silence.

So now when you finally speak, you're not explaining one thing, you're explaining two.

The thing that broke and why you didn't tell them right away, why you hid it.

And the second one is the one they can't forgive.

So let me take you under it because it's just us and I think you can handle the reason.

The delay is fear wearing responsibilities clothing.