Surrounding yourself with passionate people means you will have to work harder on your relationships. It will require less assuming and deeper listening. When misunderstandings or disagreements crop up, it will require you to choose between peacemaking or peacekeeping.
Peacemaking requires honest and uncomfortable conversations. It requires initiating those conversations and having the courage to return phone calls or emails when someone else reaches out.
Peacekeeping sweeps things under the rug, out of sight, but never quite out of mind. Sweeping things under the rug only creates a bigger mess, allowing dangerous toxins to grow and multiply.
If your goal is to have richer, deeper relationships, then peacemaking is the option to pursue.
Originally published March 2013
