{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Gettin' Through it Together","description":"It's been a tough few weeks. This commentary offers no specifics, but I've learned some things. ----- Many years ago, my neighbor in Charlotte, North Carolina knocked on my door one weekday afternoon. His wife had just told him she\u2019s leaving. She climbed her car and drove away. He was dumbstruck and he needed to talk. My wife and I had just moved in. I hardly knew him. I didn\u2019t know what to say or what to do. I froze. To my everlasting shame, I rushed our conversation so he\u2019d stop making ME feel uncomfortable. I realized years later he was crying out for help and I failed him. I know this now. And I\u2019ll never do it again. To this day I regret my behavior that afternoon. When I was a much younger man, I chose to remain ignorant other people\u2019s problems. Mainly because of the way their problems made ME feel. But I now realize that when someone shares their problems, when they confess a deep vulnerability, they\u2019re taking on risk by sharing it. They\u2019re vulnerable and are hoping I won\u2019t fail them like I did my neighbor many years ago. In fact, to be thought as one who might can help is, in fact, a privilege and should be treated that way. I\u2019ve learned. Today I do my best to help; I try to do what I can. I\u2019ve changed. Folks, there are no awards for bearing deep emotional pain alone. There is no Hall of Fame for keeping your horrific and debilitating suffering to yourself. We say we don\u2019t want to burden someone else with our problems. But how many times have you and I wished, regarding our own friends, that we would have known about something so that we could have tried to help. Asking for help is not a weakness. Asking for help is the first step to elevating a problem and finding someone who can help you solve it. There\u2019s no shame in it. To my wife, my friends and my family: I commit to working on a solution when I fall into these vulnerable states. And I do fall into them. I may sound sanctimonious right now, but I\u2019m vulnerable. Deeply so. Maybe we all are. And I commit to not suffering quietly out of pride or shame or embarrassment. To my wife, my friends, to my family; to those who listen to these commentaries \u2013 I need you to commit to taking care of yourself, too. I need you. I need to know not only that you\u2019re out there, but that you\u2019ll be there. My wife has told me many times \u2013 there\u2019s a big difference in listening to yourself versus talking to yourself. When you listen, you let the demons in. When you talk to yourself the right way you make yourself stronger. You keep the demons at bay. Folks let\u2019s agree to talk. To ourselves. To one another. Let\u2019s agree to admit that we all have problems that we can\u2019t solve them on our own.  And let\u2019s agree to get through this - whatever it is \u2013 by relying on each other. Together. I\u2019m Cam Marston and I\u2019m just trying to Keep it Real. ","author_name":"Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston","author_url":"https:\/\/cammarston.com\/keepin-it-real-with-cam-marston\/","html":"