Loneliness can have an adverse effect on anyone. Children are certainly no exception. In fact, loneliness is a common issue among kids. It is typically brought on by a number of factors.
Problems at school can often lead to loneliness. Events such as encountering a bully or dealing with a close friend moving away can quickly bring on feelings of social isolation. Outside of school, lack of self-confidence or a major change at home can also lead to chronic feelings of loneliness.Continue reading
Most parents tell their children that life goes by quickly. I know I do, my partner does, and most of my adult friends agree. Life flies by at a vast rate of knots.
Kids often ignore this advice until one day they find themselves giving the same advice to their children. We have a limited number of days on this planet. Because of this, you should appreciate the people in your life, especially those closest to you that you love.
When you start to approach middle age, sadly your older relatives are going to pass away. You will regret not having spent more time with them while they were still alive. Life gets busy for all of us, but, we need to make time to spend with and appreciate the people in your life. Their time is more limited than ours, all things being equal. And as they age, they need the love of family. They realise, more than people who are younger, that they won’t be around much longer.
Conversely, we need to appreciate our kids and encourage them to spend time with us, for the very same reasons. Your mid years will soon turn into your advanced years. Before long you will be the one realising that there’s not much time left.
Aside from family, we need to have friends as well. Our friends complete us and give us a more rewarding life. Appreciating friends is just as important as appreciating family. In many instances, friends will move away and we don’t hear from them again. It’s important to make an effort to keep in contact although this is not an easy task. But this is a great time for technology – emails, Facebook, Skype can all help you catch up on a regular basis.
Appreciation is about being grateful. It’s about taking the time and thanking them for being a part of your life. Always be willing to help your friends and family when they need it. Be grateful for the little things that people do for you, as well as the big things.
Make sure you let the people in your life know you are there for them. Don’t just say the words – show up for them. Take appropriate action, if needed. Sometimes, people don’t like to ask for help (aren’t most of us like this?). Consider showing up even if they say they don’t need help. Often, they admit that you helped and made their lives easier. That’s what friendship is all about – being there for someone even if they don’t ask.
Sometimes, appreciation is simply listening to others and finding out what they truly want or what they dream about. If you can later help them realise their dreams, they will be just as appreciative of you as you are of them.
If you want to be appreciative, be willing to give more than you take. This will set the stage that you are a caring person and it shows that you appreciate people. It’s easy and rewarding at the same time – you will feel great for helping someone that you care for.
Thank you for being here. If you are reading this article, then you are almost certainly interested in improving yourself, of having a better life. It is great to want to improve yourself in order to improve your relationships, but you might discover that you meet with resistance at every turn from certain people in your life. What should you do if you discover someone you care about is sabotaging you, and putting obstacles in the way of you working towards a better self?
Firstly, you need to determine if the sabotage is deliberate or unconscious on their part. They might just be a control freak, but also they might not even realise what they are doing. For example, women often think that their other halves would love it if they slimmed down, or that their mother would be proud that they were getting healthier.
Instead, they are told, “You look fine just the way you are,” or “Go on, have a little. It’s your favourite.” This can be through habit, or it could be because the person sabotaging you is afraid of change. If you change for the better, what will happen to the relationship? They may feel insecure, for no valid reason.Continue reading
You’ve maybe heard the saying that you can’t help anyone until you help yourself first. And, that no one can change unless they are willing to and want to. If you have determined that there are things about yourself that you would like to improve, self-help might be just the thing that you need. I know over the years it has helped me grow into the person that I have become – not the finished article I want to be, but I am well on the road to achieving that.
If you have also found that some of the people in your life need some help too, the best thing you can do is improve those things about you, that you see wrong in them. After all, your example might be just what they need. Leading by example is a great asset to have, and maybe a more subtle way of helping your friends.
1. You Can Only Change One Person
The fact is we only have control over one person: ourselves. When you realize that, you’ll start taking more control over your own needs without worrying about how that affects everyone else. For example, if you need to lose weight, but your other half isn’t very supportive, even if they could stand to lose a few pounds too, putting yourself first in this case should inspire them. If you tend to do the shopping and/or cooking in the family then you will really be in control and not only help yourself but lead by example.Continue reading
Early this morning I received the phone call that I knew was coming for the past 2 years – the news that my best man had passed away.
He had a stroke a couple of years ago, which unfortunately left him a shadow of the man he was, the man that I loved. After a few tears this morning, I knew that I had to spend the day doing what this post is all about – spending it with my girls having a great time. So off we went to Hastings for a day at the seaside, just enjoying life.
I know he won’t be frowning about this, he’s up there reunited with his other best mate, having a beer and chuckling over some silly jokes. Because they both lived their lives with smiles on their faces, and everyone loved them. They both were so friendly, so helpful to others, and had hearts of gold.Continue reading