Sitting it out

“No one reaches out to you for compassion or empathy so that you can teach them how to behave better. They reach out to you because they believe in your capacity to know their darkness well enough to sit in the dark with them.” ~ Brene Brown, The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connections and Courage

Being fully human means you’re going to experience bouts of disappointment, anger, and sadness. Someone will say or do something that hurts or alienates you. Or you might say something insensitive and hurtful to someone else. As hard as we try to avoid emotional collisions, we all stumble on conflicts we can’t fix, or encounter relationship roadblocks that throw us off course. Sometimes there are battles we simply can’t win.

Though I like to think of myself as a problem solver, there are moments when sitting back or sitting it out — removing myself from a stress-filled situation — is the best (or only) thing I can do. At times like that, I seek the counsel of empathetic friends who will sit with me and listen to my heavy heart until the dark cloud passes and I feel whole again. ~CL