Some people don’t want us to tell our stories. They don’t want us to tell them because they aren’t their stories, and that offends them. I believe one of the biggest culprits of close-mindedness is thinking our story is everyone’s story or that it should be everyone else’s story. The desire for sameness rather than differences is what closes our minds and obliterates connection.
I do understand. I understand how it can be difficult to see someone else’s success when I’m still struggling. I understand how it can feel uncomfortable or frustrating to see someone else still struggling when I’ve found help and healing. And through the years, the lessons and growth I’m learning is to not only be okay with other’s stories, but to celebrate them—to find hope, inspiration, love and compassion in them. It’s all a matter of perspective.
Should the person who survived cancer not tell their story because it’s insensitive to people who have lost a loved one to cancer? Should someone who worked through a difficult marriage and stayed together not share their story because it may offend someone who got divorced? Should the person who lost someone to cancer not share their story because it may make a cancer survivor feel guilty? Should the person whose marriage didn’t work out keep quiet because it may make the couple who stayed together feel uncomfortable? Should the person who found mental/emotional healing through medication or therapy not share their story because it’s offensive to someone who still hasn’t? Should the person who is still searching for the hope of healing stay silenced because it brings down the person who has been healed? No! I say we share all these stories!
Instead of choosing to be offended or hurt that someone shared a story that isn’t ours, I believe we should look for the good and the positive in all these stories. Look for the hope in a story that’s different than yours. Look for inspiration in a story that’s different than yours. Look for healing and connection in a story that’s different than yours. Look for love and compassion in a story that’s different than yours. Break the silence. Share your story. And also embrace the silence—to be a listener of a story that’s different than yours.
If you have a story you’d like to tell, please contact me. I’d love to share it here and hope it will make a difference for somebody. That is one of the main purposes of my blog—to bring hope. You can too.
Breaking the Silence 