I'm Emily P. Freeman and welcome to The Next Right Thing. You're listening to Episode 388.

This is a podcast about making decisions, but also about making a life. If you struggle with

decision fatigue, chronic hesitation, or if you just need a few minutes away from the constant

stream of information and the sometimes delightful but distracting hum of entertainment,

you're in the right place for discerning your next right thing. I'm an author, a spiritual director, and an occasional

workshop leader. I live in North Carolina with my family, and through my work, I've helped

thousands of spiritually thoughtful people overcome decision fatigue so that they can discern

their next right thing in faith work and life.

Inevitably, in life, all of us will face unexpected turns and be required to navigate terrain that we didn't choose and don't understand.

What do we do when life is interrupted?

When the story you are happy to tell is no longer true, when the crisis may not be obvious or clear or public,

when the help we need feels as desperate as a house fire, but it's not fully ours to ask for.

I have a few ideas. Listen in.

When you get the call or learn the truth or have the conversation and things feel like they're falling apart, there are people you can turn to who will hold you up and bring you coffee and make you laugh and let you cry, hopefully.

But when the crumbling continues, after the urgent part passes, it can feel strange and selfish to keep needing help. And it's like you're

living that lyric from that weepy song, I watch the stars from my windowsill, the whole world is

moving and I'm standing still, And the world spins madly on.

We've likely all had those kinds of moments.

I know I have.

And we do all the things we have to do to stay alive, to be grownups, to pay the bills on time.

We go to the grocery store.

If we have to, we make the meals.

...