Has someone ever come to you with a deep, dark secret?

I’ve had many friends come up and talk to me about the things going on in their lives. One friend was struggling with her mental health. Another friend was going through a breakup. One was feeling the weight of a big transition in a relationship.

Did you know that, when someone comes to you with news like this, your brain goes into fight or flight mode? Last night, I was thinking. (I do that a lot, believe it or not.) And while this is not scientifically proven, I’ve experienced it enough to believe that everyone has a moment like this. Let me explain:

Think of a secret that someone might tell you. It’s not a “I have a crush!!” secret, but rather, “I cut myself” or “I’m a victim of domestic violence” or “I’m battling an addiction” secret. It’s big, life-changing for the both of you. It’s not always a dark story, but just something that often needs to be addressed.

Now, your brain will do one of two things: it will choose flight—to run away from this secret and possibly even this person—or it will choose fight. And if it chooses fight, it has two different options of fight it will pick: good fight or bad fight.

Bad fight says: I’m going to fight you and argue with you because you are bad for dealing with or doing this.

Good fight says: I’m going to fight this struggle with you because I know that you shouldn’t deal with it alone.

You might automatically choose one or you might need time to think about it.

Now, why am I bringing this up?

Well, here’s why: I think that we should all learn how to immediately turn to the good fight.

It might be something you have to learn how to do. Or maybe it’s something you already instinctively turn to. But whatever you may choose, I do know that we are given a choice when it comes to how we react to these things.

The phrase ‘good fight’ keeps reminding me of a verse in 2 Timothy where Paul writes this:
‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.’
2 Timothy 4:7 NIV

We should be living our lives and fighting the good fight—fighting against the sins and pains of this world for the people we love.

After all, we’re not made to do this life alone, right? 😉

This leads to my next point: hearts can change from apathy to empathy.

The past few months, I’ve been making that my motto—from apathy to empathy. (I see you eyeing my amazing motto—don’t steal it, that’s my motto!! I’m kidding. 😉)

I feel like it really applies to this post—changing our instincts from flight to good fight and from apathy to empathy.

So I end this post with a question…how will you change your heart from apathy to empathy?

Thanks for reading!
~Willow <3