My daughter recently broke her arm. There was no spectacular fall or story, just a fall like any number of hundreds of other tumbles she’s taken as a toddler. She just happened to catch this one just right, and she has a very small buckle fracture in her right arm (which is healing nicely, thanks for your concern).
Watching her with her arm the day after the fall, and in the early days of her cast was fascinating to me. She definitely had an instinct to protect it. She’d hold it with her other arm. She’d turn so her right arm was further away from other people or doors. She also would try to pull it away from those who were trying to help her, like her mom and I, or the nurses and doctors.
She’s not quite two yet, so she’s too young to understand that those people are there to help her, and if she lets them help she’ll feel better sooner. I’d like to think that we all know this as adults, but how often do we try to shield our hurts from those who could help us with them?
How often do we hide our money histories or problems from our spouses? How often are we reluctant to ask a friend (or a financial planner) for help when we’re facing a challenging or overwhelming situation?
It’s natural that we want to protect and hide our hurts. Let’s all understand that we’ve all got them, and we can help each other recover and grow if we’ll only trust those who truly have our best interests at heart to help us heal.
