Let's be done with clichés

Cliché.

Definition: a phrase or opinion that is overused and displays a lack of original thought.

Also, a common (and crappy) way to verbally process someone else’s pain.

I call this the Cheer-Up Cheryl response pattern, wanting to make it “better” for someone else.

Here are a few of the thoughtless, devoid-of-original-thought verbal garbage that we go to…

- “Everything happens for a reason”

- “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”

- “God wouldn’t give you more than you can handle”

- “They are in a better place”

- “It’s always darkest before the dawn”

The good news is you don’t have to make it better and, most of the time, you can’t. Instead, embrace the suck, be with them in it.

Try this instead…

- “That sucks/is so hard/Ugh!”

- “Thank you for trusting me with this; what a challenging/awful/crappy thing!”

- “I don’t even know what to say, but I care about you and I’m here for it with you.”

What other clichés should we eliminate from our workplace vocabulary? What genuine responses should we use instead?