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Helping Others: It’s Always the Right Time to Reach Out…

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It’s Always the Right Time to Reach Out and Help Others

While many things are returning to normal in many parts of the world, none of us are completely back to normal. In fact, for a lot of people, normal may look, sound, smell, and certainly feel different for quite a while.

Maybe forever.

Before you let that make you frown, realize that not all change is bad. In fact, some change can be a very good, positive thing.

What if we all come out of this pandemic more willing to reach out and help others than we have ever been willing before? What if the consideration and concern for our neighbors (very near and very far) that we’ve experienced and displayed lasts… well… forever?

I for one certainly hope so!

I have a great deal of correspondence with others through my e-mail and social media. I have noticed over the past year more of us are apt to sign off with things such as…

  • Stay Safe!
  • Be Well!
  • Best Wishes to You and Your Family!
  • Etc..

I also notice many greetings begin with..

  • I hope you’re well…
  • I hope you’re safe…
  • I hope you and your loved ones are well…

It didn’t used to be like this.

When I’m in stores and restaurants (still riding an emotional high that my favorite Mexican restaurant weathered this storm and is open for business!), I see people smiling at one another these days – the warm smiles aren’t just reserved for babies anymore! People seem to genuinely care for others post-pandemic than they did pre-pandemic and that’s something I very, very, VERY much sticks around.

Many people are struggling today – more, perhaps, than ever before. The pandemic introduced a lot of unpleasantness into our lives. Some unpleasantness we could SEE – lockdowns, less family visits, less income, arguments with family members who view the virus differently than we do, and a total upheaval in our daily lives. Other unpleasantnesses couldn’t be seen, but my goodness are they ever felt.

  • the anxiety that comes with coming face to face with your own vulnerability
  • stress from seeing, daily, others sick and suffering
  • being more aware of death than ever before… I mean, we were given daily numbers!
  • arguments within families due to more stress
  • broken relationships because of other’s views on the virus, masks, and vaccines

Make no mistake about it, this pandemic left its vile fingerprints on all of our lives.

It’s worth remembering that you don’t have to always be strong. You can cry when you darn well feel like crying! It’s okay to feel scared and I’m giving you permission to feel angry about the whole thing. Feel the emotions you want to feel and make no attempt to tell others how to deal with their feelings. We all cope differently and we all heal differently.

Finally, I’d love to encourage everyone to reach out and help others in any way possible. If you know someone who seems to have the weight of the world on their shoulders, either ask them what you can do to make the load lighter or (perhaps even better) step up and do something for them that helps lighten their load.

Ideas include mowing their lawn, giving them a gift card to their favorite restaurant (this way you help them and the restaurant), offering to watch their child/children while they treat themselves to a day out. Simply showing up to their house with a Starbucks drink for you and a Starbucks drink for them and sitting to talk with them for an hour may be just the tonic they (and you!) need.

Many are dealing with anxiety, stress, depression, and other emotional and mental strains right now. If you can be a blessing to someone, please don’t hesitate to do so. You may give them exactly what they needed to hang in there and keep fighting.

As a bonus, helping others makes you feel so good!

Stay strong, stay well, and stay safe. I truly care about each and every one of you. ~ Joi (“Joy”)

How to Survive Withdrawal: What You Should Know

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Stress Management for Withdrawal

by Sami A

Are you suffering from drug or alcohol addiction? Do you need help stopping your addiction habits? You’re in the right place.

Drugs and alcohol can change your brain’s chemical makeup and cause several physical changes that can be life-threatening when not addressed early. Regular use of mind-altering substances like alcohol or hard drugs can cause dependence to form.

Eventually, it becomes difficult to control the amount and frequency of substance consumption. It equally becomes a challenge to reduce or stop your drug abuse. And the lucky few who manage to kickstart the process have to deal with withdrawal.

So, how can you survive withdrawal and emerge victorious over your substance addiction?

Read on:

What is Withdrawal?

Before we delve into the substance withdrawal process, you must first understand what withdrawal is and how it affects your body’s chemical makeup.

Withdrawal is the combination of mental and physical effects that an addict experiences after they stop using or reduce the intake of a particular substance or substances. These could include recreational drugs, prescriptions, or alcohol.

According to Hollywood Hills Recovery, withdrawal (rehabilitation) not only detoxes the harmful substances out of your system but also removes the toxins from your mind. The withdrawal process can be a very traumatizing time in the addict’s life and that of his/her family.

If you’ve been using a substance with a high dependency potential, then suddenly stop taking it or cut down its use drastically, you may experience different withdrawal symptoms. The duration and intensity of withdrawal symptoms also vary widely, depending on several factors discussed in this post.

Withdrawal can be quite unpleasant and dangerous in some cases. That’s why this topic is particularly sensitive and requires assistance from a medical professional.

Drug Withdrawal Symptoms

The severity of drug withdrawal symptoms varies because of several individual factors, including:

  • The type of drug you’re using
  • How long you’ve been addicted to the substance
  • How much of the drug you’ve been consuming
  • Your general physical and mental state
  • How you’ve been taking the drug

Drug withdrawal symptoms also vary in two categories; physical and physiological withdrawal symptoms.

The physical drug withdrawal symptoms may include:

  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Headaches
  • Diarrhea
  • Fatigue and exhaustion
  • Muscle and bone pain
  • Excessive sweating
  • Shaking and shivering

The physiological drug withdrawal symptoms may include:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Confusion
  • Short-term memory loss
  • Irritability and agitation
  • Paranoia
  • Intense cravings for the drug

More severe addiction withdrawal symptoms may include rapid heart rate, extreme confusion, elevated body temperature, seizures, visual and/or auditory hallucinations, and uncontrollable shaking.

Identifying Withdrawal

You can recognize withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking or cut back on substance abuse. For example, missing your usual cup of coffee may result in caffeine withdrawal symptoms like headache, fatigue, and irritability.

Such withdrawal symptoms usually indicate dependence on a substance. We advise talking to a professional medic before you reduce or stop taking a drug. This is the best strategy to safely stop taking a medication or drug and minimize potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms.

Your doctor will also know whether your symptoms are due to withdrawal of another condition.

What Causes Withdrawal?

Your brain and body are always working to maintain a balance of state (homeostasis). Taking drugs or alcohol changes this balance, forcing your system to adjust by changing the levels of some neurotransmitters.

These substances will trigger your brain’s reward system, forcing you to start craving the drug or alcohol.

Eventually, your body starts to develop a tolerance and dependence on the substance. At this stage, you will experience withdrawal symptoms if you abruptly stop taking the substance or reduce its consumption.

Withdrawal symptoms are usually the opposite of the effects of using the substance. A good example is alcohol, which is a depressant. If you stop taking it abruptly, you may start experiencing symptoms of overstimulation like restlessness or anxiety.

Treating Withdrawal

Treating withdrawal includes care, support, and medications to ease its symptoms and minimize or prevent possible complications.

With some drugs, you can stop using them abruptly and still manage their withdrawal symptoms. For example, you can quit caffeine without needing assistance to cope with the withdrawal symptoms until they pass.

However, quitting substances like alcohol or hard drugs abruptly could potentially be dangerous. In most situations, you will need medically-assisted withdrawal to ensure your safety while detoxing your system.

How to Cope with Withdrawal

Besides seeking medical support, you also need to cope with the withdrawal process to help you feel better during and after treatment.

Here’s what you should do:

  • Eat well
  • Exercise
  • Drink plenty of water
  • Get enough sleep
  • Use appropriate over the counter medications to relieve symptoms
  • Ask for help from a trusted friend or family member

Stress management activities like meditation and yoga may also help with the withdrawal process.

Don’t let fear prevent you from getting the help you need. Although drug or alcohol withdrawal can be a painful and dangerous process, it is necessary on your road to recovery. Remember, this is your second chance to bounce back from this point in your life.

Sami is the Professional Content Marketer. He writes a lot of articles in his career. His company provides various types of Digital Marketing services i.e. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Optimization (SMO), Web design & development, Link Building, Outreach guest post, Content Marketing & blogger outreach.

Perspective Quote

 

Signs of the Times or….. Just Bad Manners?

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Quote About Rude People

I’m a student of people and their behavior.   Whether it’s a rude person I encounter online or a sweet, talkative girl in the line Starbucks (with an adorable Canadian accent I could have listened to all day), people fascinate me.

I’ve noticed a few changes lately in temperament.  I realize it’s ridiculous to talk in generalities, so let me preface it by saying that these observations don’t mean that EVERYONE (thanks be to God!) is falling victim to these traits.

Just enough people to make it noticeable.

Rudeness

So many people have become so rude and inconsiderate that they’re looking and acting less and less… well…  human. How about celebrities, politicians, and others on social media that spout off insensitive opinions that aren’t just ridiculous, they’re downright hurtful? They come across as though they haven’t an ounce of tact or consideration whatsoever.

It’s not just celebs, politicians, or rude people on social media, of course. There are also the rude drivers, shoppers, workers… the list goes on.

Thankfully, kind people still outnumber the jerks. A while back, I mentioned on Twitter that I had the flu and bronchitis (yes… at once.. I’m an overachiever) and I heard from many people wishing me a speedy recovery. Even closer to home, my family went out of their way to make me feel better — checking on me, waiting on me, and showing their love and concern in many ways. In spite of coming close to my germs.

Among all of the “crusty” individuals in the world today, it’s always good to see that plenty of hearts haven’t been hardened.

Selfishness

Another trait that’s becoming rampant is selfishness. Fewer people will go out of their way to help another person than ever. I’ll be the first to say that everyone should try very hard to help themselves, hence the name of my blog: Self Help Daily. But sometimes that’s just not possible. It hurts to see so many people wrapped up in their own world that they can’t even see other people’s needs.

You see it in store and restaurants all the time. A child makes noise (news flash: children do such things!!!) and grown adults within earshot act like they have been personally attacked. Heaven forbid they actually smile at the child and the adults working feverishly to quiet him or her. It’d be a much better look than scowling in their direction every ten seconds.

I also see self-absorption online on a regular basis and, again, social media is making it (in my opinion) more of an epidemic than it it an inconvenience.  20 years ago, it’d would seem so STRANGE for someone to spend upwards of 30 minutes getting “just the right picture of themselves,” then taking said picture (the best of the bunch, of course) and showing it to everyone in their family, all of their friends, and everyone in town.

We’d have thought they were nuts! But today, it’s the norm.  Back then, we’d have thought, “They must think they’re pretty cute to want to show themselves off,” but today it’s “normal.”

Well…. supposedly it is.

Selfies do not make individuals selfish or self-oriented, obviously. However, they are a clear indication that our society is more ME-focused than it  has ever been before.

Work-a-haulics

Due to the economy, it seems that a lot of people are working themselves into a fevered pitch. They’re trying to do half a million things at once (maybe that explains the cranks). There’s nothing wrong, of course, with pushing yourself to get the most from life. The thing is, very often when you’re pushing yourself, you’re pushing others around you who…well…don’t want to be pushed. When we overestimate all that we can conceivably do, we start handing out our “to do’s” to other people. It’s as though we take our own to do list and tear it into fourths. We know we can’t do all of it, so we hand it out to others – basically creating their to do lists for them. As though they don’t have their own lists!

When we get to that point, it’s either time to barter for favors with them, or realize that we’re spreading ourselves way too thin.

I started thinking about these Human To Do lists when I read about a woman who was furious with her husband for not doing everything she’d left on his “list.” When asked why she thought he didn’t get to them, she said he’d “probably blame it on” the fact that he had two jobs.

Probably!

It may sound like a line from Little House on the Prairie, and for that I apologize, but we should all remind ourselves of the Golden Rule. We should treat others the way we’d want to be treated. No ifs. No ands. No buts. And certainly no butts.

 

Is Graciousness a Dying Trait?

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Quote about Gratitude

I have always, always loved graciousness. I think it’s one of the most beautiful traits a person can have. By contrast, an ungrateful person exhibits such ugliness that it’s difficult to look at them.

When I’ve written a positive book review and the author takes the time to e-mail me or leave a comment on the blog, I mark them down as an author I will forever seek out. Graciousness is often a sign of having a great deal of class. Do I write reviews for this gratitude? Of course not. I write them in an effort to share a book, cookbook, or product that I believe will benefit others.

A few months ago, I wrote a review for a kitchen gadget on my Recipe Blog. They sent me a Starbucks gift card in a thank you card! They earned my love and lifetime devotion with that gesture. Quite frankly, I am just as touched by a “Thanks!” as anything, though. Yes, even as much as Starbucks bucks.

I started thinking more about graciousness recently while reading a “Reader’s Choice Awards” section in a paper from a nearby city. It struck me as quite an honor to have the citizens of your community award you the distinction as being the “best.” Can you imagine? How cool! If I were a business owner, and were given that highest of honors, I would be bursting with so much love and gratitude, I’d come up with a special offer or gift – you know, something to give a hug back.

I started looking at the ads throughout the magazine-style section. There were 121 of them. Each, of course, said something like THANK YOU! and THANK YOU FOR VOTING US BEST FOR 5 YEARS IN A ROW!, etc. However, I was shocked to see that only 10 even offered some sort of a coupon or discount as a gesture of their gratitude. 10 out of 121. Wow. Most seemed to just give off the vibe of, “Of course you voted us the best – we ARE the best!”

The one – literally one – that stood out in the crowd was a Children’s Boutique that offered a free gift when their ad was brought into their store. It wasn’t even a “with purchase” type of thing. The owner (a lady with an understanding of graciousness) just wanted to hug back.

I hope she doesn’t feel lonely up there at the top.

Below are some of my favorite quotes about graciousness:

“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” – J.B. Massieu

“Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone.” – G.B. Stern

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward

“Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that thankfulness is indeed a virtue.” – William J. Bennett

“Realize that when you get older, you either get senile or become gracious. There’s no in-between. You become senile when you think the world short-changed you, or everybody wakes up to screw you. You become gracious when you realize that you have something the world needs, and people are happy to see you when you come into the room.” – Carlos Santana

Always Keep Your Humor Nearby And Apply, as Needed (Pssst…. It’s Always Needed!)

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Quote About the Importance of Having a Sense of Humor

 

“Life is a joke. The only way to survive it is to find the right punchline.” – Becky Alunan

A while back, it struck me just how important it is to have a sense of humor.  My husband and I had looked forward (literally for months) to a particular event.  When the big day finally arrived, we were like cats in a field of catnip.  I bought a great new purple top and we drove out of town to where the “next big thing” was going down.  Okay, okay, so buying a new pink or purple top isn’t that out of the norm for me, but still…

Our first stop was to eat a nice dinner out, of course. So we took the new purple top into a restaurant that’s normally flawless. It was so far from flawless this time that I’m still in shock.  If I’m lucky….if I’m really lucky… my stomach may one day forgive me.  They may have turned me against food forever. Yep. It was that bad.

So, we laughed that off – knowing the dinner wasn’t the big deal of the evening anyway.  We were on our way to that.

We should have stayed at the restaurant.

Months of anticipation, money that could have paid for more Starbucks trips than I care to calculate, and a great purple top all for naught.  So much planning! So much anticipation!

Yet, on the way home, all we could do was laugh about it.  Somehow…. it just struck us as terribly funny.

Isn’t it strange the way things sometimes turn out?  You see a movie or show that you really hadn’t thought much about and BAM it knocks your world off its axis.  Then you look forward to something for two forevers and boing  it bounces off the radar.

Oh well.  New top, good visit with the spouse, good laughs.  Hard to call it a bad evening.

During the ride home, it occurred to me just how important humor is.  I believe humor is the secret behind taking life’s lemons and making lemonade – the missing ingredient, as it were.

I had a really bad burn on my arm one time, courtesy of a grill that decided to shut on me.  It hurt 24/7 like the devil, itself, was running up and down my arm.  The only time it didn’t hurt was when I had aloe vera gel on it.  When the burn was exposed to the elements without the aloe vera gel, it was excruciating.  It felt like the tortures of the damned.

But as long as my cold, comforting salve was on it, everything was as beautiful and right as Halle Berry’s face.

A sense of humor is like a comforting salve for your psyche.  It’ll protect you from the burns of life – as long as you remember to put it on.  So always keep it nearby, you never know when you’ll need to apply it. Liberally.

~ Joi

Some of My Favorite Quotes about Humor:

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh. – Wystan Hugh Auden

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is. – Sir Francis Bacon

You grow up the day you have your first real laugh at yourself. – Ethel Barrymore

Some people are so dry that you might soak them in a joke for a month and it would not get through their skins. – Henry Ward Beecher

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is. – Francis Bacon

There is no defense against adverse fortune which is so effectual as an habitual sense of humor. – Thomas W. Higginson

Want more Quotes about Humor?