A person’s need can be real before they find the language that makes it easy to understand.

People often ask badly for the things they most need. The request comes out sideways, or too small, or as irritation about something else entirely, because the shape of it is not yet clear even to them. Waiting for a well-formed explanation before taking someone seriously means only the articulate get helped.

If someone near you keeps circling something without landing on it, ask an open question and then wait longer than feels comfortable. Resist supplying the words for them too quickly. Let them arrive at it in their own phrasing, however clumsy.