17/01/2025
“It makes us uncomfortable to see others hurting, so if we get the outward impression that they’re not too upended by a crisis, then we can breathe a sigh of relief. Everything’s cool? Okay, cool.
On the flip side of the same coin, we tend to sugarcoat our own suffering and highlight the silver linings to make others feel better- to “fake it until we make it” in a way. We “at least” ourselves because it is painful to focus on the negatives. “At least he didn’t suffer,” “at least they caught it early,” etc. It doesn’t mean the upsides are untrue, and I’m not suggesting we ignore the positives in favor of despair. It just feels important to lift the veil on the humanity of all of this. It’s tough, it’s messy and it’s ubiquitous.”
This is an excerpt from my latest blog article entitled “What Does It Mean To ‘Handle It Well?’” and it is up on my website now if you’d like to continue reading 🫶🏼
*This article was mostly written on 10/18/24 and found while cleaning out my emails. I say this because the perspective is from before my double mastectomy, while I was still processing my decision…
