Last week, I received two strange pieces of news in one day. First, a college friend told me one of our former classmates would go to prison for nine years for sexually abusing 12-year-old boys. Second, my sister shared that someone in our extended family circle, a young mother with a two-month-old baby, might only have a few months to live.
It was a lot to digest for a single 24-hour-period. More than I could handle, really. But I realized that, so I didn’t force myself to try. Over the following days, every now and then, I just sat there. The knowledge hung in the air. These weren’t your typical pieces of intel. The kind you grab, absorb, and move on. This was heavy new data.
On the surface, I understood, of course. Someone always ends up being the statistic. But, as we’ve all learned before, reality hits different. It’s not the same when it’s you or someone you know. I didn’t know either of these people very well, and yet I couldn’t swallow these news in one gulp. I had to wait. Let it hang there, in the air. Until, eventually, my subconscious absorbed it, and I could move forward.
Sometimes, life hands you information you can’t process. It might be too much, too strange, or too unexpected. Don’t gloss over this kind of news. Your psyche might boomerang it back later. Pull up a chair, and ask it to sit down. Create a little space for it. Allow it to linger, even if you don’t understand it. Sooner or later, it’ll integrate naturally, and life can continue for real.
