What if everything that matters in your life flows through a single channel?
I used to think communication was one skill among many. Important, sure, but separate from the real work of living. Then I started noticing how much of what I called "problems" were actually communication breakdowns in disguise. The relationship tension that turned out to be an unexpressed need. The career stagnation rooted in things I wasn't saying. The internal struggle that was really two parts of myself refusing to hear each other. Remove the communication failure and the problem often dissolves.
This works in both directions. Every improvement I've made, every breakthrough, every meaningful connection, traces back to a moment where communication got clearer. Sometimes that's speaking up. Sometimes it's finally listening. Sometimes it's the internal conversation where I stop arguing with reality and start understanding what's actually being communicated to me by my own experience. The quality of the communication determines the quality of everything downstream.
I'm not saying words solve everything. But I am saying that the ability to receive and transmit clearly, with yourself and others, is more foundational than most of us realise. It's the substrate. Get that right and a lot of other things start working better on their own.