Helping Yourself by Helping Others

Ever since joining a few weeks ago, I feel good knowing how many people I can help on a day on here than if I was not online. I come for support also and it feels great to help others and see that someone cared enough to reply. I look at my time on here as a volunteer job since I am not currently working (due to my reasons I come on here for support)

when i feel stuck i vent and the feed back gets me moving forward again, like an energy boost . i like to read others for it helps me to feel like all i have been through has been for a reason. so many i feel their pain and and want to try and give hope or a way out. i think we all need to feel hope and that we are not alone. i have made some very dear friends i look forward to seeing how they are doing each day even if it is a daily routine or a day of challenges. i feel i face things at a much faster pace now than i did prior to coming here.

there is something about the writen word not spoken or seen just written . my mind can slow and the words can be processed and i am not distracted like i am when face to face . my focus is there like no other. i can re read the words before me and they do not disappear like the voice in the the air. i can return to the posts prior and the storyies told flow more completely again they are not lost from the time lapse but ever present to reinforce what i read prior.

i have ADHD and this is a medium i find most effective in communicating. yes some times i am triggered and i shy away. some i cannot return to but others i am drawen back to to read futher on. they wait for me not leaving but patiently sit for when the time is right.

i see the passion of so many here and the desire to help so many. i feel the prayers at work . i see the desperate desire to end pain that so many have endured and the forest become visible as replies flow in.

i saw miracles as we watched in wait as to wonderful woman struggled for their lives to return in triump to us again. i see the strong teach us that even they fall in pain but refuse to lay down but return once more to the roles they hold dear as support to others.

some our more silent and supportive. some our even lost for words. but all together the healing goes on and love is seeded like an apple tree that has multiple grafts growing together to produce many varieties of apples upon one tree but grown from one single root.

colour and race are not often known nor do they matter for what brings everyone together is the need to belong in a common challenge within ones life.

when the flowers that bloom are polinated the apples grow and as they ripen and mature they inturn nurious new ones that come after them. it does not take long to see the strength in lessons learned in the support groups. they are returned in teachings and down the line they flourish one apple at a time. some may leave but i am sure they are seeeding their seeds along the way just like Johnny did as he walked all those years ago.

i am glad for the support group i think it is need just as chicken soup for the soul is needed in the homes too. even dysfunction needs a place to produce hope and belonging and a light at the end of the tunnel that can guide them out to life we all deserve to enjoy , free of abuse .
thank you for this group
hugs dare

Helping others is more important to me than helping myself most of the time!! It gives me a real sense of satisfaction to know that I have touched one persons heart or helped them to take a tiny step towards overcoming their greatest fears or achieving their biggest dreams.

In replying to posts, it makes me think about myself too and whilst helping someone else, I am indirectly helping myself too. It's nice to not feel so lonely on this journey!

I would be lost without Support Groups... I am so glad I found this site. I truly owe my life to many people here who have helped me along the way and become good friends to me too!! Thank you my SG family!! xx

hello everyone, im new here, ive written a few times to dare, she has a awsome sense of humor given all the pain shes going threw, plus i read she lives on a farm and i live in farm country. to let you all know why ive joined this support group is i live in chronic pain daily like aot of you all do, for the past 8-9 yrs now, but getting worse in the past 4yrs id say, i have scoliosis,pretty crooked spine, chronic back and right hip pain, need a hip replacement surgery sometime but docs want me to wait as long as possible cause of my age, im in my early 40s and they say down the road id need it again, they only hold up for so long im told by my ortho, im on daily pain meds like alot of you all are, tired of them really but cant function without, glad my kiddos are grown cause theres know way i could take care of young kids these days, i have a awsome helpful hubby who puts up with aot, great guy been together for 23yrs...so for now i wont write ya all a book but will at more down the road, hope to get to know all you people who share the same aches and pains.....ttys......TRACY.

When I first joined “Support Groups”, I was feeling about as low as I could go – and I didn’t know where to turn or what to do. In all fairness – no one joins a support because they are too happy and cannot contain themselves. At first after I joined “SG”, I was looking for someone to help me - and I figured it would be a one way street of me taking and “SG” giving. I have a tendency to look before I leap so on my first night I just watched what was happening and how it was done. It didn’t take me long to understand the true worth of what I was seeing and its’ need and importance.

After I had responded to a couple of the threads of others who were also in need as well, I felt a sense of calmness and my fears were lessened to a degree. My problems were the same but I felt maybe I had done some good – and I just felt better. And in a way, that was all I was really asking for.

I have always been the type to help others in the outside world. When I finally admitted I was depressed, I felt abandoned and betrayed when those I had helped in the past said “Well good luck with that – see you around”. I know we will never be friends again because too much water has gone under the bridge – but from being on this site I have also realized my negative feelings towards my former friends is not as great as it once was. I realized they did not understand and were incapable of helping – and maybe they did me a service by getting out of the road and not offering me false hope.

Over time I have become close to some members here who I have shared a bit about myself. But I was encouraged to share a bit more with other members as well. For me that may be easier said than done – but I have started. I was truly overwhelmed by those who offered their willingness to stand by my side and help me through the darkness.

I have also realized maybe I have more in common with my fellow “SG” friends and members than with people on the outside. We share a common denominator – we all hurt and we all have hardships to bare – and we are not alone anymore.

- Mike

Hi & Love to Everyone
I love support group and I love to try to make everyone happy and to feel better. I hope to make someone smile & laugh. Just knowing that I have helped someone in some way makes me Happy. In my emails; I try my best to give out positive feelings even if I do not feel that well. Then there are times when I need others to make me smile and feel better too. I love our Fibro gang !!! I couldn't make it without yall either !!!!!
Love & my very BEST to all,
Donna

Hi everyone:)

I feel exactly the same, I'm new here and came here cuz I have an illness and unless your going thru it you really can't understand. I could be having a really bad day but just coming here and reading post n posting back makes me feel better. I love helping and being there for someone before myself. Thank you to every one who on here n taking the time to care<3