Starting Small
People want to help other people.
How often do we say, “Let me know if you need anything,” when someone we know is struggling? We mean it—we want to help, but we often don’t know how. Just as often the person who is struggling doesn’t know what to ask for or is afraid to ask at all.
Fortunately for me, I have incredibly generous friends. I watch what they do and I think, “Oh! I could do that!” The more things I see them do, the more options I have of different ways I might be able to help someone else in my life.
What I am learning is that often things that feel very small to me seem to mean the most to others.
A little help is never unappreciated.
Helping someone doesn’t have to be hard.
There are so many different ways to help someone. The possibilities are endless, but not always obvious, and the situations someone may be struggling with can vary widely. The more examples we have of actions to take, the more likely it is we can find something within our abilities that might help the people in our lives.
My hope is that if we share our individual stories of things that have helped and mattered to us most, we will learn from each other and build stronger connections with the people we care about and our community as a whole.
Lucky for me, I know so many people who believe the same and are generously collaborating on this project as it gets off the ground. As we continue, you’ll hear from many of them as we look at different avenues to share with each other.
Our goal is simple. To share a range of concrete examples of things we can do for each other to help each other out. Situations are always different. What we can offer at any time may change. The more tools we have in the tool box, the more likely we are to find one that works when we need it.
We have lots of ideas, but no grand plans. This is a starting place to see what works, what doesn’t, and try to bring a little more kindness into the world. It will probably be more than a little bumpy, and we are guaranteed to make mistakes. But we believe it is better to start small and learn as we go than not start at all.
Welcome to Practical Kindness. We’re so glad you could join us. Let’s learn from each other.
“Compassion” Mixed media by Brandi Malarkey