Choose Kindness and Support

There are many times in one’s life that they need support. As children we learn to take care of things ourselves with the support of our parents and teachers. As we grow up we put these learned skills into practice and use them to better ourselves and our community.

Eventually through friendships, partnerships and work, we continue to face challenges and we use our networks for support and to help us grow, while in turn helping our community.

Growing, learning, and striving to be a better person is something we should all be striving to achieve through our lives. At times when we need that support the most, it won’t be there – parents pass away, friends have other priorities and partners no longer deem you worthy of their effort – which is when we need to dig deep into our toolbox and find the proper tools handed to us at a previous time in our lives and use that tool to to get us through the situation.

Mistakes happen, there are roadblocks and setbacks, but with every bump or dip, there is a peak and a hill. With every obstacle there is a way around it or through it. The path might not be clear in that moment or the very next day, but it will become obvious if you think of ways to get through rather than reasons why you can’t. For every person who no longer feels the need to support you, there will be someone who steps up to fill that void, especially when you least expect it and are not looking for it.

I’d be lying if I said that there were few valleys in my life. I lost my parents far too young, and I wasn’t wise enough to put in the effort to nurture friendships years ago which leave my friend group quite thin, but what I do have is quality over quantity. On the work front I’ve always maintained a respectable distance between work and social, this past few year representing the first time I experienced decent humans as colleagues, and allowed myself to make friends with people I work with.

On the home front there was the admission that I hadn’t received either the kindness or support that I needed. Admitting it to myself was difficult. Accepting it to be fact, even more difficult. Many a conversation with people far smarter than I helped me realize that I had become someone that even I no longer recognized, and that while it was possible to be that person again that I needed to be, there would be many valleys and many dips and lots of struggles, but as I found ways to get through them, they guaranteed there would be peaks, and I should take the time to enjoy them.

Live a little.

Enjoy the highs and don’t take them for granted.

There will still be lows but understand that after the lows come the highs. Don’t slough off the lows either because we need those to help us learn, to grow, and to appreciate the upcoming highs.

Ultimately, though, it comes down to support and kindness. Finding someone who will support you and walk with you in your journey is something to never take for granted. You will never truly understand kindness until you have found someone who offers support without strings, out of the kindness of their heart and because they want the best for you and the best for themselves.

There is something truly selfless about recognizing and offering support, and the kindness that goes with it.

The world would be a much better place if people supported each other rather than being divisive.

My world is a better place thanks to support and kindness I’m receiving.