Difficult conversations aren’t easy. If they were, we’d readily deal with them, rather than ducking and dodging and basically doing whatever was possible to not say what needs to be said.

There’s the elephant in the living room: the child on drugs, the relationship in trouble, the friend who suddenly changed, the money that won’t make it to the end of the month.

But those conversations aren’t just between friends and family. How many people call their town government rather than sit down with a neighbor and find out why the lawn hasn’t been mowed?

Sometimes the conversation is far more serious and has broader ramifications. Politicians don’t seem to talk to each other, so key legislation is one-sided and passed by whoever holds the majority. Does this help everyone they represent? Decisions are made but seem to come out of left field. Why did this happen?

This month, we’d like you to sit down and consider the conversations that need to be held, but aren’t. The hard topics. The painful topics. The ones that call for honesty. Make a list.

What do you need to talk about? What’s stopping you?