Walking through Bury earlier today I saw a young man sitting under the Arch to the Abbey Gardens watching people in the rain. We exchanged a smile as I prepared to run and he laughed. I stopped and we started talking. He said that he had been feeling bad all week and suffered from depression and anxiety so he made himself get out of the house. I asked why he smiled – he said ‘if I sit at home I just keep getting further and further into my problems so I distract by getting out and imagining what everyone is thinking as they walk, sit or run. This way I allow them to take a tiny part of my problems away from me and I take a tiny bit of their energy for myself. I just swap with them. The swap is so small that they do not suffer however with all those small bits of positivity I become more powerful and can get over anything – rather like many drops of rain make a river which changes its course over time and erodes even the hardest of surfaces.
Well done the people of Bury – by walking and shopping today in the rain you have helped a young man.
