As more and more people all over the world are dealing with hardships (financial or otherwise), I wanted to make a public announcement. You do NOT have to do everything alone, because you are not alone. If you are alone in this exact moment, there is someone out there who wants to help you, but the surprising thing is that because we are so used to people saying no, we tend to stop right before we reach the one person who will say YES and give a helping hand!
The Spirit Of Helping And Giving!
I want to share an interesting story from my past, a story that is actually quite common. When I was doing management in retail, I was also working to raise money for the American Cancer Society, raising funds for breast cancer research. I simply had a jar and I was not asking for a dollar amount — I just would take the change, so it would be like “rounding up” to the next dollar. If someone’s total was $15.65, then the donation would be 35 cents, to make the total $16…but people are not some hivemind, nor can we control what one says or how they can help. While, of course, people said no, and that can be discouraging, I still kept asking, because I have an aunt in my family who had breast cancer, so I was doing my best to raise funds. However, after getting a few people to donate their change, and having maybe three dollars in change in my jar, something interesting and really cool started to happen…someone donated their change, which might have been something like 20 cents, but then they also put a couple of dollar bills in the jar. I didn’t ask for it — people genuinely want to help, and some can help a little and some can help a lot, but help is a beautiful thing! Once there were dollar bills in my jar, more and more people were donating both their change, and additional dollar bills. Someone even put a $20 dollar bill in the jar!
People help in so many different ways, by donating supplies, donating time, donating money, “donating their talents” (think Habitat for Humanity, etc.) and some have the misconception that you have to represent an organization or thing, or else people aren’t willing to help you. That is proven wrong every single day, probably every five minutes of every hour. People regularly give money to strangers, help repair flat tires for strangers, help push a vehicle, jumpstart a car, volunteer with organizations or form meetups to do things in the community or to support peers, so much more! This is because, while we hear about horrible people and hear and see people do horrible things, there are MORE people who are not horrible, and even better, they want to help! Some people are actually out there WAITING for their opportunity to help in the ways they know how to help. This does not mean that you should abuse people’s kindness, but many people help, knowing that there is a possibility/risk that it may not be worth it or that someone may be shady. However, many who help don’t assume because we seldom truly know anyone’s circumstances…so if you need help, reach out! I’d argue that knowing when to ask for help is important for development, because we really need to understand when we need a hand and we can’t do or know everything!