Being Kind on the Journey

I don't have a writing related post today, not really. Jeremy Aldana once said, 'It's not so much the journey that's important; as is the way that we treat those we encounter, and those around us, on the way."

Over the past year I can't count the number of times someone has told me (or someone I know), "this is my path/journey/whatever, go find your own." And I can't help feeling that what is being implied is that we can't help one another on our varying paths or journeys because writing (and life) is a somewhat solo trek.

I get it. When I'm in the middle of a book it's all I can do to remember to shower, brush my teeth and put on clean clothes much less remember to do the laundry, feed the family and spend quality time with RadioMan. Same thing goes when I'm not in the middle of a book but have some other stress going on in my life. I tend to pull all that in, roll around in the middle of it and try to figure out a solution all on my own.

But I've been thinking about the Aldana quote a lot lately, and I've seen a couple of different pins/graphics on social media that say the same thing but a little bit differently. The gist is to be kind because we don't know the kind of load another person is carrying on a random Wednesday when everything seems to be swimming along for the rest of us.

What I've decided is that even when I want to do it all on my own I shouldn't. It isn't fair to bebe or to RadioMan. It's not fair to my writer friends, my online friends or my real life friends. That isn't a free pass to whine and moan and complain to everyone 24/7. It's a reminder that sharing the burden is its own kind of release, especially when you include taking some of the burden from our friends or family.

So my non-writing post today is kind of a imploring to all of you (and a reminder to myself) to be kind when someone cuts me off as I'm waiting in the pick-up line at bebe's school, to not roll my eyes when RadioMan asks me - yet again - where the clean spoons go and to spend a little more time reading with bebe...and to ask more often if there is anything I can do for a friend who seems to need to hand...because being on different paths doesn't mean we can't learn, teach and grow along the way.

What about you?