Usurping Their Story

[Birth & Babies – I]

When a woman finds out she’s pregnant, we congratulate her and say she’s blessed. We do this nowadays, and we’ve been doing it for millennia (see every reference to pregnancy in the bible).

This may be a true statement.

But she might also be terrified.
Confused and uncertain.
Disoriented and lost.
Shameful and worthless.

Naming the experience of others usurps their story.

All experience, especially one as momentous as pregnancy, is complex, layered, and nuanced. It’s never just a blessing, or only positive. But it is always their experience.

Don’t tell them their experience.
Ask. And learn.

[Healthy exercise: Replace birth and pregnancy with any other event or experience. It still applies.]