I spent some time with my niece over Thanksgiving, and she relayed to me that she suddenly did not want to go to school and cried and cried. So, her mom set up a meeting with the teacher and my niece chose to do the talking. She said that she told her teacher all the things that had been happening and bothering her and how she was feeling. In her story-telling to me, she made a poignant analogy considering she is 8. She said with each problem she talked about it felt like another huge rock was lifted off her shoulders and that when she left the meeting, she felt no rocks at all. I often know when I am under stress, I get a sore neck and or a sore bottom lip from mindlessly chewing. We physically feel our troubles. I am so impressed by the courage and the lesson in the story. She talked it out and felt lighter, notice she did not say to me that the issues were instantly resolved, only that she had shared them. I read an article recently that we all need to improve our skills in conversation and it offered that instead of saying – how was your day? We could try asking- what was the best part of your day? Or what are you most proud of getting through today? In sharing and talking and leaning on one another, we lighten our load, just a little bit. Take some of the weight off your own shoulders and let others know they can share theirs with you.
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