The Four Simple Words We All Want To Hear. Someone Might Be Waiting to Hear Them Now.
During some of the darkest days of my divorce, my phone was often silent. No calls. No texts. It was just me alone with my thoughts and that gaping hole of emptiness where my life used to be.
I was too scared to call anyone. Too afraid that they’d answer the phone and I’d have to talk. I could hide behind a text. But if we spoke on the phone, they’d hear the strain in my voice. Hear past the lame small talk I would struggle to make. They’d realize the truth of how broken I really was.
It was so strange. I didn’t want to speak to anyone and risk having to explain the situation again. I didn’t want anyone to guess how much I was still struggling to pick myself up after my divorce. But I still hoped someone would leave me a message or text. Or send me an email.
And what’s the message I so wanted to hear? The simple reassurance of four little words.
I’M THINKING ABOUT YOU.
I’m blessed because a few friends did just that. A simple text would pop up on my phone, “I’m thinking about you.” Those words were a tiny lifeline tethering me to others, a light cutting through the fog of aloneness. Those words let me know: even though I felt so profoundly alone, I really wasn’t.
Those messages were a sign that I was going to be OK.
So often, we are reluctant to reach out to a friend who’s going through a crisis because we simply don’t know what to say. Divorce, illness, losing someone, or even a fractured relationship.
If you’ve been reluctant to reconnect with a friend because you don’t know what to say, just say, or send, those four little words.
They might not be much, but they might mean the world to your friend.