Helping others helps yourself

I’ve been realizing lately how much this is true. Lately it’s been all about admitting things and then doing something about it, instead of just continuing to sit there and whine or cry or be frustrated. Whether it’s that you can’t lose the weight, you can’t get past some emotional baggage, or you aren’t doing better at work, the first steps are to admit out loud that there is a problem, and then – taking the next step to fix it.

For me, that’s meant repeating over and over again to myself, to my parents, to my boyfriend, to supportive friends – that I have emotional issues and need therapy. And now it’s meant making the calls and finding someone who can really help.

One thing that helps you move forward is recognizing similar “problems” and calls for help in friends and giving them the exact advice that others are currently or once gave you, or that you are still trying to tell yourself. “Oh, you can’t lose weight? Try this.”  “Oh, you have a crappy parent or friend? Try this.”

Just knowing that someone else needs help and that you can help them, is proof that you can help yourself and that others can help you. It’s always easier to be on the outside looking in, as we know. It’s always easier to look at someone else and say, “Duh, why don’t they recognize this?” It’s much harder to say to ourselves…yeah, I’m doing that too, or yeah, I need to fix that, too. It’s even harder to then push through the first few weeks or months of taking action on it. Making calls to get help. Making changes in your life that are healthy, finding people that are good for you and letting go of people and habits that are not so good for you.