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Help Someone Else Such as Through Volunteering
When people are disturbed, they turn inward to themselves.
While this is necessary to protect yourself immediately after a trauma occurs, it is
unhealthy in the long term because we are all healthiest when we’re loving, caring
members of our community.
But as you progress in your healing, you become more and more ready to rejoin your
community and one of the best ways to do that is by helping others.
Reaching out to people in need benefits you as well as them, in several ways:
- It puts your problems in perspective. No matter how bad your problems are, you
are bound to find other people with even bigger problems, and that awareness can
help you value the positive aspects of your life.
- It helps you transform a negative event into a positive force. Many people are
helped by helping others who experienced the same trauma or by working to
prevent others from suffering that trauma.
Many people choose to volunteer for organizations that have some connection to the type
of trauma they experienced (which you should do only if you’re sure it won’t trigger
memories or emotions that are too hard to handle).
No matter what form your outreach takes, giving of yourself can help you discover new
meaning and purpose in your life.
For ways to volunteer in your community, check out these sites which will help you find
activities near your home:
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