Some of us have lost a loved one, a job, or a business during the last year. Others have lost time, relationships, or their sense of purpose, hope, and direction. The present is painful, and the future looks bleak. What can we do to help people facing losses and challenges caused by forces that are so much bigger than we are? We can’t exactly give back to people what they’ve lost or get back what we’ve lost.
While it’s true there are lots of things we can’t control right now, there are a couple of things we could do to bring some healing and hope to people and promote economic recovery at the same time.
Be available for people to share their raw experiences with you. Simply expressing the pain, frustration, anger, or sadness in words can lower the intensity of those feelings, which makes them more mentally and emotionally available to hope, teaming, growing, and planning.
Affirm a character quality or ability that you admire in another person. When people endure losses, they often lose sight of the great abilities they have to bring value to people around them. Reminding a person of the value that you see in them can be a great push for them to look for a new place to do meaningful work that blesses others and produces income.
Imagine if everyone had someone in their life do these two things for them over the next month. How many people would that give the willpower to move forward and participate productively in the future? You can be part of it. Let’s do it together!