R u Ok?

Last night I asked someone I had never met “Are you ok?” What followed was a 30 minute conversation on grief and loss. This wasn’t my intention, but it was obvious she needed to talk.  I didn’t have to say much. She did a lot of the talking. But I let her talk. She needed to talk.

 

Today is R U Ok day and hopefully everywhere around the world people are connecting with others. Both those that they know and those they don’t .

 

Helping someone deal with grief, depression, sadness or loss is often seen as challenging, awkward and confronting. Mostly people are worried about saying the wrong thing.

 

Mostly they wont.

 

Sometimes it is just being next to them.

 

Sometimes it is walking past them on a busy school morning, putting a chocolate in their hand, squeezing their shoulder and moving on.

 

Sometimes it is staying up all night drinking cups of tea.

 

Sometimes it is long walks talking about nothing much.

 

Sometimes it is simply asking “R u ok?”

 

Always it is letting them know you care.

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This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. Kim- Reunite Child Assist

    This is a gorgeous post. I love how so many of the family/parenting pages are incredibly supportive of the people within their community. It is easy to ask if someone is OK, but at the same time it is so much easier to ignore what is going on around us. I take my hat off to you for asking the lady mentioned above, the difficult question. We all as a society, could take a long hard look at ourselves, open our mouths a little more often when necessary, close them a little more often to avoid the hurt we spread, and help make this beautiful place an even more amazing place to live and grow in. Kim 🙂

    1. Martine

      Thanks Kim….beautifully said too 🙂

  2. Gillian

    With the busy lives we all lead, sometimes we forget how simple it can be to make a difference.
    Thank you for the reminder and a lovely post:)

    1. Martine

      Thanks Gillian. And yes it certainly is easy to get caught up in everything we are doing.

  3. Linda - Mums on the Go

    I wish I could be a fly on her wall and hear what she says about her encounter with you … I am sure you made an even bigger impact in her world than you imagine. You have a wonderful way of helping people feel “heard” which is such a gift and enormous empathy and insight to share for others travelling through their journey with grief and loss.
    Linda x

  4. Donna Spears

    That was a strange encounter! I would also like to hear stories like that because I might be able to help someone!
    Thank you for sharing about R u Ok? Marine…

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