overheard

"Come on, Andrew! You can do it! You just have to believe in yourself!"

THUNK, SCREECH.... is that a child running into a wall or a book being dropped from the bunk beds, or... OUCH!

"Uh, okay, maybe not like that."

And... another great life lesson learned. Sometimes, things take more than a healthy belief in YOURSELF. Huh. There are things you won't be able to do, things you won't really want to do and end up watching other people do, and then resent that they can do it, while you.... yes, CAN'T.

This is perhaps not the most mature of attitudes, but I honestly don't know anyone that doesn't feel this way from time to time. Maybe it's why we feel the need to upend conversations towards what we did to solve a particular problem, citing all the evidence we can that masses of people agree with us, that we are authorities to solve the multitude of other people's problems--- when the whole time, people just want to be heard. Just want to be acknowledged that their problems are hard and not just simplistic ready made permission slips to lecture at.

I don't know, but I find myself more and more dis-trusting pat answers. Absolutes. Black and white. There's too much complexity in the world, too much color and situation and nuance. I've come to believe that the only real answer to be trusted is what's already in your heart and gut, and getting to that is already complicated enough. Getting to a place where you can quiet all the outside strain and chaos and expectation and just listen. 


For anyone following this rambling thought process of mine, let me assure you that no, no child was hurt previous, during, or after the making of this post. No heads in walls or books careening off bunk beds, where, in all likelihood, they would have ended up smashing someone else's head. Phew! Yeah for learning! Which can also sometimes be simply amusing and not painful!