Helping others to deal with stress can be sometimes challenging, rewarding, and often therapeutic for all involved.
If you have the opportunity to talk with a friend about stress they are dealing with, listening is the key to truly being successful. Make sure you do not make them feel as though you are trying to tell them what to do or how they could have done or be doing things better than what they are doing. Most people resent someone from the outside looking in who does not truly understand the situation telling them how things need to be handled. Make sure you do not phrase things as, "if I were you I would have handled things this way." If your opinion is asked about what you think about a certain situation, make sure you use tact and gracefulness in your responses. Using tact and showing empathy to an individual works wonders when it comes to truly helping them to feel better about their situation. They will come to respect you even more as a friend and you will also gain a confidant when you may need one later down the road when a stressful situation comes your way.
Empathy may best be described as "your pain in my heart." You actually listen and take the feelings of someone else into account and think about and feel how it would affect you personally. Putting yourself in the shoes of someone else can help temper your responses if you feel strongly about an issue they may be dealing with. The "golden rule" comes into play here as well. Think about how you would want someone to listen and help you if you came to them with a problem or stress you are struggling with. Always thinking about things in this way helps to keep the conversation in perspective. You are there to listen and help, not dictate and determine the outcome of a situation someone is dealing with.
Helping others for me is the ultimate stress buster, there is nothing more beautiful than making a person happy. Its not always necessary that you have to know the person, it can be a random act of empathy or kindness.It's a game of pay-it-forward: anonymously make someone smile with an act of kindness, leave behind a card asking them to keep the ripple going. It's easy and fun.
Its true that the more joy you share the more happier one becomes. I have myself dealt with others stress and felt better, I have made people smile and smiled with them forgetting my worries and my insecurities. The key to a happy life is to be happy, sometime pampering yourself is not enough. I hear people say you need a 'me' time and though it is not such a bad idea but there is so much to do out there, so much joy to spread , so many people to be made happy.
When people need your help, they'll most likely ask you first, but if you have the chance, try to offer to help before they ask you. This'll show that you were willing to help from the start. For example, if you see a friend struggling to carry groceries, offer to help. Or if you see them getting bullied, help stand up. Or if you see them getting pushed down or beaten, ask "Are you all right?" and help them up. Then try to cheer them up. Believe me, helping people will always make you feel better because it's the right thing to do.
Put yourself in someone else's shoes. Being compassionate can give you a strong reason to help someone else. It can also show people that you really do care about someone.
Volunteer or donate. Being in charitable organizations is a great way to help the less fortunate, like donating food or money to the poor.
Think about what might happen if you don't. More people will feel more miserable if you just leave them when they need you, and you don't want to see people unhappy, do you? Don't stress yourself too much, but it's always nice to lend a hand.
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