People always confuse niceness with kindness.

Nice is keeping your mouth shut and ugly secrets to yourself.

Nice is passive aggressive on occasion while hurting on the inside.

Nice is a social construct designed to bypass honesty and real kindness because not everyone understands how to be kind.

Kindness, on the other hand, is all about just behavior and honesty and care for others.

I’ve been victim to nice behavior, told that it was mean to speak honestly.

The difference always is that in speaking my truth, I never tried to hurt others. I wasn’t “nice,” and probably it did seem mean to them, but when you’re not honest with yourself and others, no one can grow or do better.

It’s good to be gentle with truth. It’s not okay to be abused by someone who takes advantage of you and gaslights you and everyone involved into thinking the truth is “mean" because they are being dishonest.

I feel for you in that situation, and I’m glad you came out of it with better understanding. Keep sharing your truth because you are helping others recognize how to grow past those things and people who try to hold us back.