I Know

Sometimes, I get nostalgic and I'll reflect on my life before I accepted my mental illness. I like to see how much I have changed since those days where every minute seemed like a struggle. In those days, I remember my father giving me advice and telling me things I should have been practicing already. Things like, "Don't give money away unless you have a lot of it" and, "Treat yourself with respect, because you are the most important person in your life." Back then, my favorite response was, "I know."

I think we have tendency to say, "I know" in response to advice we are not ready to hear. And honestly, I think we do know a lot of what is said to us. Those with suicidal thoughts can easily look up the dangers of suicide online. They can know that information pretty easily. If people trying to help quickly tell the person they shouldn't attempt suicide, the immediate response is "I know." We live in a generation where we can know a lot of information. That doesn't mean that knowledge holds any meaning for us.

I think we need to make a movement away from knowing things, and move towards understanding things. We can do that by studying experiences. If we explore what a person has experienced, we will understand so much more than common knowledge that can be found online. And, if we focus on understanding, the things we say, "I know" to will have much more meaning. It wasn't until I understood why I gave people money that I didn't have or treat others with more respect than I gave myself that those things my father told me started making sense to me.

Therefore, start focusing on understanding. The more you understand a person's experience and why they think a certain way, the more you will be able to help that person. That way, we can move from a generation of "I know" to a generation of "I understand".

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