Several years ago I was in a situation unlike any I’d experienced before. None of my close friends had been through anything like it either.

I confided in a mentor that it was hard not to be able to connect with others moving through a similar set of circumstances. I felt alone. She nodded and said, sure, they haven’t been through this, but they have experienced the fear of making the wrong call on a decision that really mattered. They’ve experienced loss. They’ve experienced the fear of the unknown. Look for common ground at the level of what it feels like to move through an experience. That’s where you’ll find connection.

We can use the unique circumstances of our lives to isolate ourselves and say no one understands and ask, why me? Or we can use our circumstances to drop into what it means to be human. We can feel our way straight through to the others. We can recognize the place of this experience in what it means to be human. The invitation is to trade the question of why me for the recognition of oh yes, you too.

[ Photo by Sven Scheuermeier on Unsplash ]