I have a friend whom I’ve had to distance myself from lately. Her kids are grown and no longer live at home. Whenever we talk about motherhood, she is constantly telling me my situation of trying to raise my teens on my own as a single mom “could be worse.”
What I think she means by that is it “could be worse”, they could all be gone and moved out of the house, like hers are. Perhaps she means it could be worse because I fortunately have a job and a roof over my head.
While I get that there are more challenging situations than mine, it doesn’t mean that I’m not allowed to have a hard time, or that I should keep it to myself simply because things “could be worse”.
If there’s one thing I’ve realized about life and being a mom, it’s that there are times I simply want someone to listen
If someone is venting to you, and you don’t think it’s a huge deal, it costs nothing for you to listen and say, "That must be really hard"
It’s really that easy. They aren’t asking you to fix their life, and they certainly aren’t asking you to downplay their feelings, so don’t.
It only makes the situation worse and leaves the person feeling like they don’t matter. No one wants to feel that way.
And if you have a friend or family member who continues to use those words, consider not talking to them about your hardships. Chances are, they aren’t listening and they don’t really care anyway — and you deserve better than that.
