We should never travel alone. We all need someone to hold us up if we fall.
-(Picture by Lisa R.)

I had a talk with a friend today, it was emotionally jarring. Not because I was berated, or talked down to. But because she had so much going on in her life. The thing is, if she had not said anything I would never have guessed the gravity of her situation. I knew from just general observation that she was going through a bit of a hard time, but I chalked it up to “general” life problems. The thing is she’s not going through “general” life problems, she has “REAL” difficult life problems. The kind that leaves you feeling dejected, empty, and hollow. The kind that you need support to get through. Only she had become such a good actress that no one knew the desperation she was feeling. In her words, “I know how to be alone, I don’t know how to ask for help.” Today she didn’t ask for help, even as she relayed her story and her pain, her final words to me were, “I got this.” I left feeling like the the most horrible friend in the world. How could I not have noticed? Then I remembered: Cut to me nine years ago, feeling the same kind of desperation and despair, just like with my friend no one knew the pain I was going through. It is weird that in the moments that we need help the most, we fake strength the best. Here’s a little honest advice, if you’re hurting, let others know. No man (or woman) is an island. We are not meant to bear the burden alone, we can’t. God intended for us to carry the load together.

“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

So what am I thankful for today? Painful conversations.