You can talk about movies

0:03Speaker 1:Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is that connection is important when you are going through a hard time. But you don't have to bare your soul in every conversation. You can talk about something light and fun and still benefit. from the togetherness. I know, and I am guessing you do too, that when you are going through a sad or stressful season, being with people you love is powerful. They can help you process your feelings and figure out how to make it through.

0:51Speaker 1:But sometimes you don't want to talk about how your cancer treatment is going or whether the baby is going to be able to eat normally. or whether you have gotten any interviews for jobs you've applied for. It is valuable to talk about your struggles, but you don't have to talk about your struggles all the time. Sometimes you can talk about movies, or the books you're reading, or recipes you're trying, or your favorite team's recent win. Connection is powerful and meaningful even when you're not talking about whatever the big difficult thing is. Not every conversation has to be deep to be valuable. So give yourself permission to literally or metaphorically talk about movies if there is something in your life that you don't want to talk about right now. If a friend goes in a direction you're not comfortable with, you can say, no, let's talk about movies today. We can talk about the tough stuff another time. It's being together that matters most. If you know you are not going to want to go deep in a particular conversation, before you meet up with your friend, you could even think of a few light topics you'd

2:07Speaker 1:enjoy chatting about. And if you have a friend or relative who's dealing with something heavy, you can offer them the same freedom too. If you visit a friend in the hospital or drop by the home of someone who's grieving a family member's death, or go out to lunch with a friend who's going through a divorce, you can let them know at the outset that you are open to going deep if they want, and you are also open to just chatting and being together. Let them know that you want to be with them. They can talk about what feels good for them in the moment. Now, obviously, if we want to have lasting, deep friendships, we do have to be honest with our friends about what we are going through and give them the opportunity to do the same. But sometimes just being together and chatting about light topics can take us away from our troubles and still remind us that we're not alone. So if you are going through a hard time, don't isolate yourself. Connect with the people you love and know that you don't have to talk about your struggles all the time. Sometimes you can just talk about movies. Knowing it is okay

3:24Speaker 1:to just talk about movies is can help you get through the tough stuff too. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening. And here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at laura at lauravandercam.com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media. For more podcasts from iHeart Media, please visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.