You just had a baby and your mom came to “help you out.” The baby won’t nurse, and your mom keeps offering earnest suggestions– hold the baby’s head like this, drink more water, try to get him started while he’s sleepy, make eye contact with him. When you’re not scouring the internet for suggestions, she’s scouring the internet for ways to help you. Your baby still won’t latch on, and your lovely, helpful, wonderful mom is driving you crazy.
You decide to visit a counselor because you’re unsure how to work through a difficult situation with your family. You’ve invested more time and money than you can comfortably afford, and after the first few sessions, you’re sure you see the counselor’s eyes glaze over when she talks. The advice she gives might be excellent general advice, but it doesn’t address the particulars of your situation, at least not the way you see the situation.
You’re watching General Conference and you hear one of the speakers give counsel that falls hard on your ears. You’re unsure whether the advice is good for the church in general, but not for you in particular, if you need to soften your heart and follow the counsel, or if you can just quietly forget that you ever heard that talk.
We all encounter situations where we get unhelpful, uninspired, or plain old bad advice. What are some situations where you received hard advice? Did you find it difficult to react without burning bridges or severing ties? What advice do you have for others in this situation?
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