Word stress

The message was terse:

My name,
"Remove me from your email list,"
His name

I guess something I wrote offended him. I haven't called or written back yet to find out for sure. I don't want either of us to say something we'll regret.

So I'm stewing about it, and you, lucky reader, get to hear about it.

What bugs me is this: I always stress over what I write. I craft words, worry about connotation, consider how it appears to others. If anything, I take too much responsibility for the response of my readers/hearers.

I know it's obsessive and perfectionistic. I know I make mountains out of molehills. I know I need to relax and just say/write what's on my mind without worrying so much what others will say or do or feel in response.

But whenever I do that, it seems like it bites me in the backside. Like today. I'm quite sure that the person apparently offended by my email is really out of line. That he's taking offense to two words in my letter which were entirely appropriate. That his angry response is his problem, not mine.

Offending my friend was the last thing on my mind, however. Had I known (if my guess is accurate) that those words would offend I would gladly have avoided them. My message was perfectly strong without it. It never even occurred to me that my note would be offensive. I was just casually (more or less) jotting down my thoughts about something important to both of us.

I didn't stress about it. But I wish I would have. And that's kind of sick.

So now I'm a "blogger." I want a safe place to say what's on my mind knowing that, if others don't like it, they don't even know me. So there.