how we perceive

i love to hear people’s stories. i ask a lot of questions, often skipping the small talk. i want to know you. recently when visiting with my patients, digging a little deeper to better understand their journey to needing home care, i noticed that their stories often seemed exaggerated. they commonly spoke of horrifying or traumatic hospitalizations. as i listened to these stories, and looking back on my days as an inpatient nurse, it hit me that the most common of days to some of us are perceived quite the opposite to others. and those tiny differences amplify and imprint.

in the same way, i have been struggling with my daughter’s emotions. her nine year old brain is processing more than it should with what we are facing these days. her emotions are raw but confused and together that makes the perfect storm of frustration and perceiving situations in a hypersensitive way.

in talking with my therapist this last week, i shared with her how the town news of the way too young girl’s suicide has rattled me. how my mind perceived it through the traumatized lens of my own depression and intrusive thoughts. i wonder what was going on in her short life that she perceived to be impossible to live through? and what breaks my heart is that it could have been something that seemed so minimal to others.

how do we untangle the thread of thought that causes that memory to sting so badly? more importantly, how do we relate to one another and be sensitive to their perceptions?