Engage the patient in a conversation about what it would take to make life better, what the patient would have to do to achieve those ends, and what kind of attitude would help. Next year, you would have met the girl of your dreams, but she meets somebody else because you re still dead. The next year, the Yankees win the World Series, and you would have had box seats, but you re still dead. Reframe your suggestions as challenges. Don t accept an I don t know.
Some teenagers overuse the phrase.
Or, If I don t know it right now, I never will know it. Or I ll say, Take an educated guess. We re talking about what s going to happen in your love relationship. If the answer is I don t know, I ll say, Let me give you some feedback. Here s this topic of all-consuming importance, and you just spent 1.2 seconds thinking about it.