💬 Thursday Thread: What have you learned about yourself through helping others?
Have you experienced the "helper's high?"
My step-daughters live in Los Angeles, and right after the fires started, I noticed one of their friends was raising money on their Venmo for supplies and then rallying her community to buy and deliver them to shelters and nonprofits. This is someone who’s in her late thirties and has never been an activist. And yet, she saw a void and decided to fill it. So far, she’s raised over $20,000 for supplies and she’s connected to likeminded women in her community who are doing the same, so now they’re doing it together. And along the way, she’s inspired others to follow her lead.
As I wrote in my Substack essay this week, altruism benefits others for obvious reasons, but it also helps us—to find our people, to learn what matters to us, and to figure out what makes us come alive.
I know this firsthand: for nearly two decades, I worked in corporate communications, using my messaging and branding expertise to sell everything from CT scanners to corn ethanol to Craisins. I was passionate about communications, but not what I was communicating about. I felt unmotivated, unfulfilled, and just … meh. Even though I was successful in my career, I often felt at best as if I was on autopilot and at worst as if I was squandering my life. It wasn’t until I used my communications skills to start Moms Demand Action that I truly understood what it meant to come alive (and I was 41 years old!).
👉 For today’s Thursday thread, here’s what I’d like to know:
Have you experienced the “helper’s high” of altruism?
If so, how has helping others helped you?
Welcome to the Thursday Threads, a weekly chance for us to connect with one another in the comments. Join me and other readers as we navigate important discussions. And a note: a difference of opinion is always okay, being unkind to one another is not. Let’s keep these conversations respectful.
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It is so easy to help another person in a small but meaningful way. Hold the door open for the person behind you. Let someone merge in traffic. Use the damp paper towel I just used to dry my hands to mop up a few puddles around the sink in the public bathroom.
Just writing this post reminded me to send a short supportive text to a friend with a terminally ill spouse. Nothing fancy, just a check-in with love. And it makes me feel good!
I read your Substack the other day right after I had gone to our local bookstore which is closing. Not giving it a second thought, I had taken photos of every book in which I knew the author and posted and shared them. I was simply having fun with it but every author was so excited and touched that I took a moment to do that. Knowing it was meaningful gave me a complete "high" per se. It doesn't have to be a grand gesture, just a thoughtful one. I also enjoyed reading about your corporate career because I too did something I was really good at for 18 years but didn't wake up jumping out of bed wanting to do it like I do now. My next personal challenge is figuring out what more I'm supposed to be doing to help others while using my voice and building off of what I already do and know. Thank you for the inspiration, Shannon!