Jaimie was writing about labor. It strikes me, though, that this sort of thing happens in lots of areas. Whether our words are encouraging or not can make a big difference for others.
Naturally, I set out asking many different woman about their experiences with labor, each time hoping to hear what I wanted to hear – that is, “You know, it does hurt, but in the end it’s not that bad, and you can do it!” Instead, I’ve discovered that woman seem to have some morbid need to describe their pain to me (ranging from “it feels like you’re being ripped apart from the inside” to the loud statement of a hyperbolic grimace) any time I mention that I’d like to give birth without any medication.
Yeah…not helpful.