CITIZENS OF PLANET EARTH UNITE: A BETTER WORLD, ONE PERSON AT A TIME

CITIZENS OF PLANET EARTH UNITE: A BETTER WORLD, ONE PERSON AT A TIME: I don't know about others but I at times in my life have struggled greatly with feeling that I am supported by others in life. What I...

A BETTER WORLD, ONE PERSON AT A TIME

I don't know about others but I at times in my life have struggled greatly with feeling that I am supported by others in life. What I mean by supported by others is pretty much that I am appreciated by them enough for them to reach out to me when I'm down or to cheer me on when I'm working to improve myself, my life or simply just to accomplish something that is important to me.

I grew up feeling alone. I grew up feeling as if nothing I was or did was important enough to be recognized by others or to be supported by others. It wasn't intentional on the part of my parents but that is how it was and as a result of that I have suffered greatly throughout my childhood, young adult years and even into my mid-adult years with feeling valued, important to others, supported by others and basically worthy of their attention and/or their love.

But that was then and this is now and today I couldn't feel more blessed, more important to others, more passionate about life than I do today. I have many, many wonderful and caring people to thank for helping me see my way through it all and to arrive at where I am today. So THANK YOU ALL for your love and your support.

However, along with that love and support I grew inside of my head and my heart. I let go of a lot of resentments, I forgave everyone who I felt had caused me to feel this way about myself and I worked very hard on introspection as well on as being much more empathetic to others. I am a changed person and those who know me today would not recognize the person I was even fifteen years ago. It took a lot of hard work on my part, a lot of insight and a lot of support from those closest to me. Again I am so grateful.

One of the most incredible things that I have found that shores up my self-esteem and that helps me 'know' that I am valued and supported has been to value and support others. I find it odd but comforting to realize that when I felt unloved, unwanted, unsupported all of those years my first plan of self-protection was to not love others freely, to not be true friends with others and to not support anyone else. I protected my 'self' and my feelings by shutting off every possible way to truly connect with other human beings. I had friends I didn't trust and who really didn't treat me like a real friend would. I was in the self-protection mode and it only led me down a path that made me feel even more like I needed to protect myself. It was a downward spiral that I was unable to see that I could change. I felt it was everyone else's duty to love me first, want me in their lives first and to support me first. Man oh man was I wrong about that.

Here's the thing that I found and I hope that others might give it a try if they aren't already aware of the power of 'giving to others'. That thing is that it truly is far better to give than it is to receive. Since I have chosen to become a 'cheerleader' for others in my life and through social media I have been lifted up beyond any expectations I'd ever had my entire life to be at. I have never felt more loved, more wanted, more supported than I do today and I truly feel that it can be attributed in a very large part to my support for and showing love to others. It's really not about if I give I get or it being in equal increments, tit for tat. That is NOT what it's about, although I once thought that was how it worked. What it truly is about is simply feeling good about loving others and showing/telling them, caring about the woes of others, being there for others and most of all cheering others on when they need it or just to be a caring supportive friend.

It really is so very true that in order to have a friend we must be a friend. I have found out the hard way how this works and how we need to apply it in our lives but the most important thing is that I figured it out.

BUT this doesn't only apply to people who are our friends, whether face to face or social media friends, but it applies to everyone around us. Today more than ever we ALL need to feel supported by others. These for some are desperate times and for others are uncertain and anxiety producing times today but if we don't reach out to EVERYONE around us with our kindness, our concern, our empathy, our compassion, our help and our support we are most certainly all doomed to fail at surviving whatever lies ahead. We can be a victim or we can be a survivor and in order to survive ourselves we must begin to accept that what can ensure our survival is NOT simply just taking care of ourselves but is also taking care of others. Together we rise or together we fall.

WE CAN DO THIS!!!