Sometimes we all need someone to hold our hand

Or someone to hug us, or someone to look at us with kindness, or sometimes just a smile will suffice.

I’ve never, in my entire life, felt as lost as I did in the past 2 years. It was truly a harrowing experience, for so many different reasons. And I still, everyday, have to give myself little talks that things will be fine, that things are fine, that at some arbitrary, unknown-to-me, point in the future things will all be fine. It is a fair bit of work to convince myself though!

I emailed a client today because I had not heard from her all day (that was not normal!) and she admitted to having “one of those days”, and I told her the same thing that I’ve come to live by, “things will happen when they happen”.

I’ve been extremely fortunate to be able to work with mostly working mothers as my clients, it’s a wonderful experience because we are all struggling in many of the same ways and we can really empathize with one another. And in stark contrast to working in a huge corporation, it’s not really about the profits, it’s not really about “first to market”, it’s not really about competitors, most of the time it’s about making a difference, about sharing what we do best, what we know, helping one another, and sometimes… holding a hand.

We’re all struggling in some way, each of us is fighting our own battle, and I think we need to remember that sometimes a smile and some understanding is all a friend/sibling/parent/client/stranger may need from us.

Thoughts from Lia Huber

Thank you for this, Shaz! Thank you for you . . .

Thoughts from mand

What a lovely thing to read. It was timely, too.
{hugz} to you.  80)

Thoughts from Vivian

Hi Shazia,

The title of your blog caught my eye. This passed Friday I decide to try Thai Massage for the first time. It was a great experience. The therapist was very intuitive. With this particular technique you have to give the individual all of your weight so that she can stretch you and move you into different positions. Because I’m so tense I had a difficult time doing that so she had to remind me to give her my weight. About halfway through the session she asked me whether I tend to carry the burden for others and whether I allow others to carry my burden at times. She said I can’t always hold others and at times I need to allow others to hold me as well. Her comment really struck a chord in me and actually made me sad for a while.  I asked myself, “in what ways do I keep people at bay because I think I need to do everything myself?” This experience was a reminder to me that we don’t always have to carry life’s burdens alone and at times we can allow others to hold a space for us in their hearts as we deal with our own stuff. We can allow others to lend a helping hand.

Thanks Shazia!

Thoughts from shaz

vivian - very interesting, as always. i think i really learnt that lesson having gone thru this separation with kids. its ok to let ppl in sometimes.

Thoughts from Dahlia

Great Reminder!