“Nah, you’ll be all right, mate.” Six words delivered without thinking. An idiom loaded with danger.
The phrase carries a laid-back, optimistic spirit—stay calm, don’t panic, things will sort themselves out. On the surface, that’s not wrong.
But relying on “you’ll be right” can avoid genuine pain, discourage you from talking about feelings, and block professional support. Externally, how can we know things will sort themselves out? And more—how do we know what someone else’s situation truly means, what’s going on inside them, when we can’t fully account for what’s going on internally ourselves?
I practice this internally too, which is equally worrying. The quiet voice that says settle down, don’t overthink it, you’ll be fine. Sometimes useful. Sometimes just words dressed up as reassurance.
Last night I said something without thinking. In public. Without full knowledge of what I was talking about. It was stupid and insensitive.
“You’ll be right” is what I’ve been saying since. It’s not helping.
What helps is sitting with it—not explaining it away—not rushing to the nearest exit—a note to oneself.
The damn gap again.
Nick
