Some days, various people or things really try my patience and sanity. As much as I may try not to be affected I typically allow such things to damper the general cheeriness of the day. Today, I had a client who, immediately as we sat at my desk and I asked “So what do we have going on here?”, literally burst into tears. She went into a very long and involved account of all the things that had gone wrong in her life, mistakes she has made, many of which she acknowledged were repeated issues that she should have known better. I heard about her health issues and her relationships with her family.
As she spoke, many times I thought “why me?” Pitying myself despite the tragedy that was happening right before me. At one point I thought about how I would never end up in the same situation, until I realized, what if I do someday? This woman had set herself up with a good life and seemingly great people surrounding her, and ended up losing most of the people and being taken advantage if by her own children for her entire life savings. She has basically no one and nothing and I realized that all she wanted was someone to listen to her. So I did, acting as if this woman was me, or my mother, or someone else I care about who ended up in an unfortunate situation despite their best efforts.
My point is, you never know someone’s journey and you can’t predict the future. We all need to have compassion for those around us who may not be the best company at the moment. Act as if that person is you and that as a random outsider, you can make a difference or help someone just by being there and listening.
The lesson I learned is one that I will carry with me and try to remember going forward. The woman left with a smile on her face. I didn’t make any money or get a sale from her, and the hour I was with her could have yielded me business elsewhere, but the true value of the moment was felt as she left the building, a little bit stronger and relieved at least temporarily from the weight in her shoulders.