An Uncomfortable Truth

I really struggle sometimes.

When listening to someone's story and struggles, their pain... it can be so hard.

I think it's hard because the cliches won't help, the pat answers often hurt... and aside from that

We simply don't know what the nswer is, or even how to provide an ease of pain.

It's a helpless, aching feeling, isn't it?

_____

I was having a conversation with a friend last night. I was attempting to be "real" with them, which is supposedly what they wanted. As I was sharing, they stopped me and said, "Yeah, but we all need to learn to work with different types of people." What they said is true, but they had missed the point, and as I tried to clarify it hit me, my friend wanted to be right. And how important to me was it that this particular person saw things from my angle? Not very, to be honest. I felt at peace with my stance, and in reality, their statement, however misapplied, was true. So I stopped my clarification mid sentence, paused, and said, "You know what, "friend," you're right. You're absolutely right, we do have to learn to work with different types of people."

Their response, "Thank you, I know I am."

Apparently, they just needed to be right, and to be validated for it.