Time Spent Helping Others is Never Wasted Time

Have you ever thought of helping others? If you did, that’s great!

But what is your concept of “helping”? I’d like to share what I came across on Wikipedia:

“Helping behavior refers to voluntary actions intended to help others, with reward regarded or disregarded.”

You just read a simple definition that sparks a broad meaning. Everyone knows that helping is a good action.

Is it? NO, not everytime!

We are positive minded to read “helping” as a good action. But, you can even help someone just for any reason.

Helping is worthwhile, and it depends on the WHY or reason behind it.

Anyway, I’ll be using the keyword “helping” throughout this post and its implication would be, helping for good.

Are You a Helpful Person

You may already be helping others in different ways.

Many tasks involved in our lives are about helping others to get their jobs done. In return, we get rewarded too.

For example, if you are a business developer, you are helping your clients to create a successful business and in return, you get paid.

If you really love what you do, it can be more than getting paid.

If we set our perception in that way, we will hardly find someone not helping others. Mmm… Let’s talk beyond the common scenario.

Instead of helping others help themselves, how else do you manage to help others?

Where Do You Stand With Regards to Helping Others

Taking voluntary actions to help others is not an easy task for everyone. We all do have different kind of lifestyles surrounded by simple to complicated obligations.

Sometimes, devoting your time, effort, money or any resource for someone else can be too much. You may have got enough other troubles to deal with.

Perhaps I can’t even imagine what you are going through and how tough your life is.

Does this thought sound familiar?

“There will always be someone to help those who need the help. May be, someone who would like to please others, who has nothing important to do in their life or who doesn’t have bigger responsibilities as we have. I’ve got enough problems for myself. Who has got time to worry about someone else’s problem?”

Did I just read your mind? Or am I close to it?

Just recall an incident when you saw that someone needed a helping hand. Were you a bystander? What did you do – just ignored and left? Or, were you the only one to help that person?

I can recall an incident that when I acted the role of a bystander. I could have helped that person. At least I could’ve gone and asked “Are you feeling alright, ma’am?”

But I didn’t. Fortunately, there were enough people to help though.

Isn’t this the place where most people stand now? A bit more self-centered and being defensive, even when they can help someone.

Where do you stand?

What Does it Take to Help

Do you really need to be rich to help someone else? Yes, of course! Unless you are rich enough, how can you give away?

When the term “rich” pops up, probably you may think of the financial aspect.

You can donate funds to charities, help build a shelter for a homeless man, spend money on poor kids who can’t afford to go to school and there’s more you can think of, as long as it’s money that you can trade.

Money is not a prerequisite for helping though. Not at all! There are so many ways you can help someone without spending a dime of yours.

How about these?

• Fixing computers of people who can’t afford it

• Rescuing and feeding an injured little birdie

• Helping an old couple cross the road and taking them to their destination

• Giving away food to poor kids

• Helping a friend who had suicidal intent

There are some happy moments I can recall in my life when I spent time helping others. I was just a teenager then and I had no money in my pockets to spend either.

Do you think you should wait for the perfect day to start helping others?

Even if you are feeling helpless, you can still be rich from your heart. Just because you haven’t got enough resources, doesn’t mean you can’t help someone.

You CAN always help someone out there who is not lucky enough to have what you have already got.

If you’re looking for an example, then how about a former drug-addict helping others to encourage and save them from being lost and hopeless? You can read about it here.

What’s in it for YOU

Honestly, do you think about what’s in it for you when you wanna help someone?

I don’t know how it feels when you expect something in return by helping others, but I know that you feel much better, when you didn’t have such expectations.

Researches indicate consistent helping is beneficial for your health. It also points out that if you expect something in return, it may not be helping your health too.

Until I had been invited to write this post, I hadn’t thought about exploring the benefits of helping.

When I help others, I feel the happiness it brings to me. Further, I found some interesting facts about helping behavior that was obtained from studies and researches.

In addition to increasing happiness, primary benefits of helping are –

• Reduce risk of mortality

• Boost self-esteem and confidence

• Release healthy hormones to block negative emotions

• Help overcome stress and depression

• Increase the flow of good chemicals in your brain

• Boost your immune system

• Reduces the risk of heart diseases

Further, you can also gain new skills and experiences while helping others, which can be really helpful in the future. May be they can bring you whole new opportunities in your life too.

Final Thoughts

While you are helping others, you need to think about helping yourself too.

You may push yourself enough to help others, but you need to keep in mind that you can’t take care of everyone or everything. It’s not your fault!

I can relate to the feeling of being helpless to take care of everyone, but it’s not realistic at all.

If you are gonna keep worrying about what you can’t or couldn’t do for others, those who deserve and can use your help may not get sufficient help from you.

Never forget to take care of yourself first. I’m not suggesting you to be more self-centered, but to be the one who is powerful and not vulnerable. Be powerful enough to help others and yourself.

Having a healthy state of your mind and body means that you can do even more than you imagine. Believe me, it’s so true!

One of the popular claims I hear is that people who tend to help or care for others, tend to become more helpless themselves.

Unless you take care of yourself and be realistic while helping others, that statement can be true enough for you too. Hence, you might start feeling that you wasted your time by helping others.

While I was searching through the YouTube videos, I came across a simple video showing how people can help others, especially on the road.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTT8c75-7cI&w=620&h=360&rel=0]

Helping others, you can be the one ~ YouTube Video

Did you notice how many people were paying attention to the one who needed help in each incident? 🙂 Welcome to the real World!

“It’s not about what we bear in our minds, but how we turn them into actions.”

Do help! Do care! Do love! You can be the one!

Over to you –

Did you ever waste your time helping others? Have you got surprising rewards after helping someone? I’d love to hear more about your thoughts and experiences about helping people. 🙂 Share in the comments.

 

Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos