As if it were a friend's day

On hard days, and about hard events, write about yourself in the third person - about yourself as another person, with all the sympathy and support you would give a friend you love very much.

On hard days we stand so close to ourselves that we can't see anything at all. Writing in the third person takes you one step back, and one step is enough: the same words you would say to a tired friend become sayable to yourself.

Write the day as if it were the day of a friend you love. What has this person been carrying since the morning? Where did they get tired? What did they do anyway? Then write what you would say to them if they were sitting in front of you now. Don't flatter them - but don't be hard on them either. Say the truth the way someone who loves them would say it.

For instance

He got home at nine, didn't eat, and read the same email eleven times. If he were my friend I'd tell him: you're tired, not finished - you held a four-hour meeting on your own with nobody backing you. Go to bed; the email will be read tomorrow by better eyes.
She spent the day between the ward and the school run, then apologised for forgetting a call. If she were my friend I'd say her day needed three people and she did it with one. The forgetting isn't carelessness. It's the bill for a hard day.

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Today's prompt

Write about your day - or about the thing that tires you to think about - as if it had happened to someone you love. What do you see in it? And what would you say to them?

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