Swimming Through Life

A personal blog and author site

Be Mindful

Happy September, y’all! It’s crazy to think we’re almost ¾ of the way through the year already, but I’m also super excited to get into Fall and cooler temps. I LOVE this time of year.

Anyway, this week I want to talk about something that has been weighing on my mind for some time now. 

A couple of weeks ago I was waiting for my coffee at Starbucks. These two women were having a conversation near me, and I couldn’t help but overhear them. I obviously didn’t catch everything that was going on, but the one woman was venting about something, and eventually the other woman goes “well, at least what you went through wasn’t nearly as bad as [insert name here].” The lady who had been venting went quiet, and I didn’t have to look at her to know she was upset by her friend’s response. 

Honestly? I was disappointed in that response too. Of course others have had it worse. And still others have had it even worse than that. Someone ALWAYS has it worse off. Does that mean what that lady was going through wasn’t hard, and that she didn’t have the right to feel the way she felt about it? No! 

It takes a lot of guts sometimes to be vulnerable and share those dark parts of your life with someone. And when it’s simply blown off because “someone else has it worse,” then you wonder why so many people never say anything at all and suffer in silence. 

I think we could all try to be a little bit more mindful of what we say to people, and how our words can affect them. I know I’m not perfect either and I’m plenty guilty of saying the wrong thing too, but I’ve really focused on being better about it. 

Just keep in mind that everyone is facing some kind of battle whether they say something about it or not. Be kind and thoughtful and treat others the way you’d want to be treated. 

I’ll get off this soap box now. Stay cool this weekend everyone and enjoy the long weekend!

Until next time! 🙂 

Megan Reiffenberger 

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