29. Telling it how it is

ONE DAY AT A TIME
Meditations for Carers
 
29. Telling it how it is

Luke 10.16

Most people, when they stop to ask how things are, usually ask how your loved one is. They seldom ask how you are. But when they do, what do you say? If you’re like most of us, you mutter, ‘I’m okay.’ You’ve learned that they don’t really want to know that you’re chewing the mantelpiece with frustration at what your loved one has taken to doing most recently, or that you’re falling asleep every time you sit down (and that includes in the loo). They smile cheerfully and say something like, ‘Good for you’, and off they go.

And you’re ready to take a bite out of whatever’s nearest – because it’s your own fault. They believed you. So they won’t offer to help. Or sympathize. Or anything. You’re on your own. Head-banging doesn’t help. You’ve probably already got a headache. Telling it like it is will. But choose your listeners carefully. There are people who do care enough to be told the whole story and there are people whose eyes will glaze over as they frantically search for a way to get away, leaving you feeling like the Ancient Mariner.

You don’t have to go for the jugular with the goriest details...


Taken from One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers by Dorothy M.Stewart