The Gift of Clarity: What We Learn About Ourselves in Moments of Fear

“Her days are numbered.”

The words hit hard.

I love the person whose days are numbered, and this isn’t what I, or the person who delivered them, want to hear or think.

I probe a little further; yes, the diagnosis is terrible. I won’t bury my head in the sand, but we’re missing a critical bit of information.

We’re missing the thing that I believe will determine how many days they actually do have.

I’m used to this from the person who delivered the statement. Everything is a catastrophe, and most everything is a catastrophe before all or as much information as we can gather is made known.

Sweeping statements made from incomplete information, how often am I guilty of the same?

It turns out the critical piece of information we were missing was the best possible news we could have received.

There’s still uncertainty, but we have more clarity.

It got me thinking about how we listen and what we hear.

My mind whispered,

“We hear what we fear.”

It’s catchy and compelling, but it’s too sweeping to be accurate.