What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
I work with people.
Their words spill into my days—
rants, confessions,
small mercies offered like gifts,
distortions dressed as truth.
A friend once told me,
learn to use your good ear
and your deaf ear.
The wisdom is knowing
which ear belongs to the moment.
Sometimes the good ear listens close,
catching what trembles beneath the surface,
a concern that needs tending,
a plea for someone to act.
Other times,
the deaf ear is mercy—
letting words drift away
without building a home in me,
allowing someone to speak
just to hear the echo fade.
This is how I survive
the noise of a hundred stories.
This is how I know
what to carry,
and what to let go.
The Afterword 
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