Open Mouth Insert Foot

So I am NOT one of those people who say "I'm just a really honest person" to me those are the people who lie the most. I must say though that I am brutally honest sometimes, not all the time but sometimes. I feel that sometimes it just NEEDS to come out and there is no sugar coating it. This is where I usually open mouth and insert foot.
I was talking to a friend last night and I said "Don't take this the way it sounds but...." Now I do feel like it was something she needed to hear. It was how I felt and yes it sounded crude but it really wasn't at all. I had to call her today to say "So... what I said I meant, BUT.... I need you to understand it in whole"
This made me wonder how many times we say something to someone thinking "Well it's the truth" or "Oh they knew what I really meant"? In reality they probably did NOT know what we meant, they could have been on the sensitive side and it hit them like a wrecking ball, instead of the gentle encouragement you meant. We could be responsible for killing someone's spirit with our words when it was never our intention.
I am not sorry that I said what I said because I still feel like it needed to be said. I do feel better knowing that she understands the context now after I called her back to explain.
Moral of the story... Even if you think before you speak, you may need to go back and do some damage control.