He carried around a weight.
Heavy on his back each day, slowing him down, increasing with pain everyday.
Only, if you asked him about it, he would act like he didn't know what you were talking about.
But nobody asked him about it.
They asked him how he was doing, sure.
But when you don’t know anything is wrong, the answer is always the same.
They asked him if he needed anything.
But when you don't know something is missing, the answer is always the same.
They even asked him if he wanted to talk.
But he didn't have any idea what he'd talk about, so the answer was always the same.
One day, he ran into someone who didn’t see the problem either. Didn't notice the weight, the heaviness, and the obvious pain holding him back.
He did, however, notice something missing.
And he asked about it.
He asked him about the last time he felt happy.
And, though it took some time, the answer was different.
He asked him about how he was getting through his challenges.
And, though he had to consider it for a few moments, the answer was different.
Finally, he asked him about the last time he felt seen and heard.
And, in a single question, he noticed the weight and lightened the burden at the same time.
Loneliness is heavy.
Isolation can be a burden.
And we don’t notice how painful it is to carry around all of the problems by ourselves until, if we're lucky enough to have someone ask a different question, we realize we don't have to do it alone.
If you're interested in learning how to ask the questions that allow people to realize they don't have to carry those burdens alone, and to help you see you don't have to either, we've revised our free Finding Good Basics call to give you some easy to use tools.