Earlier this year I coached a young man who had chronic fatigue syndrome and some other health challenges that made his life very difficult. But he wasn’t a complainer and he did his best to get through each day.
As I got to know him, I learned that he was single and that he got tremendous satisfaction from working with at risk youths. He gave those kids lots and lots of love and support, including encouragement when they needed it and hugs when they needed them. Greg, as I’ll call him, was clearly a very caring young man.
I told Greg that I knew someone who could really use the love and support that he knew how to give. Out of curiosity and because he gets so much satisfaction helping others, Greg wanted to know who that person was. So I started describing him. I told Greg that the man I was talking about was a very giving person and very supportive of others and that he was in his late 20’s, and I provided some other information about him as well.
When I told Greg the person I was referring to had some serious health challenges, he realized I was talking about him. In an aha! moment, he also realized that he had been giving way more support and care to his at risk youth than he had to himself, that he wasn’t getting nearly as much support and care as he needed and that he could give them to himself as well as to at risk youth. And he started and continues to do that. How about you?
