From Small Minds to Great Ideas

Yesterday, I experienced some trigger after a phone call, which caused anxiety and fluctuations in my blood pressure. If you know someone who is going through chronic health challenges, here are some helpful tips for talking to them:

1. Avoid constantly asking how they are doing with their health, especially if you don’t understand their condition. A simple “how are you?” will suffice.
2. If you don’t have anything positive to contribute, it’s better not to call or start a conversation.
3. Avoid generalizing their challenges and pain with insensitive comments if you cannot empathize with them.
4. Small wins are what keep us going on bad days, and when we share them on social media, it doesn’t mean everything is perfect.
5. We share very little of our challenges on social media because we don’t want to focus on the negative.
6. We often distract ourselves with work, hobbies, projects, people, and random things. It’s not intentional, but a way of coping with both physical and emotional pain.
7. If you want to offer support, just be there for us and listen without judgment.

I find it challenging to engage in meaningful discussions with people where we can learn and grow together. As the saying goes, small minds discuss people, mediocre minds discuss events, and great minds discuss ideas. There was a time when I was surrounded by individuals who only discussed others, and I found myself getting caught up in that group. However, today I am committed to being more discerning and avoiding conversations that revolve around gossip. Instead, I believe we can engage in various topics that bring us joy and enlighten us. I recognize that we all have our imperfections, but I want to focus on others’ positive attributes rather than their negative traits. By doing so, I can continue to evolve my thinking and become a better person.