Dr. Tom Here, Got A Minute?

I was talking to one of my young patients the other day, and he was talking about how he really got ticked off at this guy. Somebody gave him a mouth full out on the field, and he let him have it.
And I said, “Well, how did you respond?”
He said, “I told him blah blah blah blah blah.”
And I said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no. I said how did you respond?”
He said, “That’s what I did.”
No, that’s not responding. That’s reacting. That’s little boy stuff.

Responding is when you have to think it through, you have to analyze it, you have to weigh and balance the consequences of what’s going to happen if whatever you do, you do.
What you did was little boy stuff, like a knee jerk – BANG! Hit the knee and kick.
That’s reacting. Responding is something a little bit more.
Take a breath. Wait a moment. Think it through. Then, respond.
Believe me, it’s one of those signs of maturation that you’ll thank me for one day.