We have all gotten a phone call, an email, a text, a diagnosis, that we didn’t want. Be it from a relative about a favored uncle or grandparent, or a doctor regarding the test results you’ve been waiting on.

How do you take that kind of news? How do you make sense of it? Get past the initial shock/anger/hurt/etc. and move forward with your life?

You just do. You put one foot in front of the other, lean on the people in your life who love you, in some cases get them to carry you, and move forward.

I’ve received that call, the results of the test, the voice mail, and I can tell you this: they hurt like a pain you’ve never felt before, even when you are not new to this type of experience. Each one is unique, and has its own set of nasty claws.

You feel like you want to break down and lose it. Like you can’t bear up to the weight of the pain.

You can.

What about those things which completely wipe you out?

That is when you need to be carried. When you need to leave only one set of footprints in the sand.

You have someone who will do that for you. Even if you think you have no one, there is always someone. Just ask for help, and it will be there.

Now, to those who are not in a situation where you need to be carried, you are in a unique position. You are able to do some heavy lifting for the people in your life. There needs to be no reason. If you know someone who is in a bad way, just help.

Don’t worry about if they’ll be offended. Ask them what you can do. If that only leads to a conversation about what’s going on in their life, then that is your heavy lifting moment.

Don’t publicize it. Don’t crow about it. Don’t put it on a resume’. Just do it, and then go about your day as if nothing ever happened. That is where true heroism lies. Those who did what needed to be done, when it needed to be done, because it needed to be done. And then asked for nothing in return.

Wherever you find yourself today, please don’t hesitate to ask for help if you need it. And don’t hesitate to offer help if you can give it.

Ben Cox is the morning show host of “Ben Cox in the Morning” on KQBZ, 96.9 FM in Brownwood Texas. He is the new in-stadium voice of the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets football team, & Ben is also an event DJ for weddings, parties and the like, and can be contacted through the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce.

The thoughts and comments reflected in this column are those of the writer alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of Wendlee Broadcasting, or its affiliates.