A few months back, I was at a team lunch at a client’s place and there was this one colleague, Aman, who was the life of the table. Cracking jokes, making everyone laugh, the kind of guy who lifts the mood of an entire room just by walking in.

Two weeks later, I found out he had been going through a really tough phase at home. Nobody at office had any idea. He showed up every day with that same smile, did his work, made people laugh, and went home to a situation none of us could even imagine.

That hit me hard.

We walk past so many people every single day. Colleagues, neighbours, that delivery guy who always greets you with a “good morning sir,” the security guard at your gate, your own family members. And we form an opinion about who they are based on what we see in those five minutes. But that’s just the surface. Underneath, almost everyone is carrying something we know nothing about.

I’ve started believing that one of the most underrated skills in life is simply listening. Not advising, not fixing, not jumping in with “you know what you should do is…” Just listening.

I remember a conversation with my father a few years ago. I went to him with a work problem, expecting him to tell me what to do. He just sat there, heard me out completely, and at the end said “I understand, beta, this must be heavy on you.” That’s it. No solution, no advice. But somehow I felt lighter after that conversation than after any pep talk I’ve ever received.

That’s the thing about being heard. People don’t always want a fix. They want to know that what they’re feeling makes sense to someone else too.

In our line of work, in HR, we meet people on their hardest days. Someone who just got rejected after three rounds of interviews. Someone who’s quietly job hunting because things aren’t going well at home and they need a change urgently, but can’t say that out loud. A young employee struggling to keep up, putting on a brave face every single day. If you only look at the surface, you’ll never know any of this.

I think every story we hear from people teaches us something, even if we don’t realise it at that moment. Someone’s struggle teaches us patience. Someone’s comeback after a setback teaches us that things do get better. Someone quietly going through a hard phase while still showing up reminds us how much strength ordinary people carry without ever talking about it.

And honestly, this changes how you treat people. Once you accept that everyone is dealing with something, you stop being quick to judge. The colleague who seems distracted, the friend who cancelled plans again, the relative who suddenly became distant. There’s usually a reason. We just don’t see it.

I’ve made it a habit now, especially with my team and with candidates I meet. Before reacting to someone’s behaviour, I try to remind myself, I don’t know what their morning looked like before this call.

Sometimes the kindest thing we can do for another person isn’t advice, money, or solutions. It’s just sitting with them, listening, and letting them know they’re not invisible.

Because everyone has a story. And everyone, at some point, just wants to be heard.