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Dec 19, 2024
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Jon Swanson's avatar

Frank-

I'm so sorry. On behalf of the experts, I'm sorry. As someone who works hard to listen to a person and to respond to their own figuring out, and yet often, unknowingly, isn't helpful, I'm sorry.

The other day, a friend was talking about the loss of his dad. Someone's comment started, "I know how you feel. I have this other specific loss." My friend was remarkably gracious. I was hollering at my screen.

We talk at times in business about firing clients. I read today about deleting the people on Facebook who simply aggravate us.

In This is Hard, I wrote about the people who say dumb things:

What can you do?

You can smile and nod. You can avoid those people (at least for now). You can enlist a friend to be with you and protect you. You can excuse yourself to go to the restroom. You can respond with, “I know you mean well, but that’s not how I feel at the moment.”

You can find the people who give you life.

Thanks for writing to us.

Jon.

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