09/11/2025
One of the most grounding lessons I’ve learned in therapy and in life is this: I cannot control how others feel, how they respond, or how they choose to handle things. I can only control myself, my actions, my reactions, and the way I choose to move through the world.
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That includes how I take in information. I remind myself not to accept everything I see online at face value. I was taught to research long before Facebook fact check, and I still lean on those skills.
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When I pause to look deeper, I see how words can be reshaped to fit narratives, how emotions can overshadow truth, and how quickly sides can be drawn. That tells me all I need to know. It is my job, and only mine, to examine what I read, think for myself, and take from it what it is meant to teach me.
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And I know I am not the only one with this skill and power. If more of us used it, we might find ourselves pausing before speaking, and that pause could be the difference between repeating a narrative and uncovering the truth.
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