The word still can turn an observation into an expectation about someone’s life.

GRATITUDE

WHAT THIS MEANS

Still turns a description into a comment on someone’s timetable. Still renting, still single, still at that job. The word implies there is a schedule they are behind on, and it usually arrives from someone who has not thought about what that assumption costs the person hearing it.

Remove it from your questions and see how they change. Are you enjoying the work is a different question from are you still there. And if it is directed at you, remember that the schedule being referred to belongs to the speaker, not to you.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Which question about your life carries a deadline you never set?

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