Well I did it...I said the wrong thing.

Well, I did it. I said the wrong thing. Me, who professes to hold space with you and honor your feelings. Me, the advocate for letting people feel what they are feeling and not trying to talk people out of bad days or bad moments. Me. Yup. Which is all to say that, as hard as we might try, our own messy lives can get in the way. And we all have our thresholds. It was an emotionally draining, physically painful week and my guard was down. And I was undone by another’s sadness, tears, and broken heart and with her feeling the messy feelings. Instead of honoring those feelings, I said something to try to make it better. These things can and do happen. And it’s uncomfortable and sometimes messy. The best we can do is acknowledge that the wrong thing came out, with no excuses, and do our best. Holding that mistake as a lesson for next time. In a world that is often riddled with strong emotions, we sometimes collapse under their weight and are loath to have others feel that weight. But the short-term fix does not help the long term. And trying to talk someone out of their feelings just tells them their feelings aren’t real or important or they make others uncomfortable. So, we all do the best we can and we hope it is more than enough. Sometimes we fall short. We have to honor that, too.