Thank you is so hard to say, yet so necessary in human relations as Sorry, and I love you. Sometimes it’s so hard for us to thank somebody for their offering, for their support, for their general contribution in our lives, much more emotionally than practically.
When discussing the concept of help, we can detect two situations. In the first one, people offer their support with something in return, which isn’t necessarily bad; meanwhile, in the second, someone will help you without any benefit and, many times, without even knowing it. This article is dedicated to the latter. To those in our lives that have helped us in our efforts to take a step forward, to dare to move on, to believe in ourselves. To all those that believed in us when we had neither the confidence in ourselves nor the extra courage to take a potentially painful risk. To all those that saw something in us and pushed us towards a target, towards new experiences, towards an aspect of ourselves that we hadn’t even discovered yet.
Of course, it is not only about our parents or friends, whose support is considered self-evident, but more about someone in our environment, with whom even if we didn’t develop a great relationship, they weren’t limited to what was self-evident. Maybe it was a teacher, a family friend, a neighbor, or your coach. It’s about the person that grabbed you and told you, “get started, create, move on, you can do this.” It’s the person that showed belief in you and your abilities and urged you to take advantage of them, not because they would benefit in some way, but because you owe it to yourself. It’s the person that has been an inspiration to you without even realizing it.
And of course, your inspiration and appreciation for them don’t derive only from their words, but from their meanings and much more from their actions. People like this that inspire you to live your life at its fullest, surely try the same for themselves. They do things, they put effort, they create. This is what inspires you the most and what boosts you.
You have surely understood by nowwho we’re talking about. Okay, maybe you have met some sort of dreamy ‘benefactor.’ Indeed, we are the masters of ourselves, and we owe the highest percentage of our success to ourselves. However, sometimes we need a boost to lead us to victory.
That’s when we must thank them; when you take this decision, when you overcome yourself and dare, when you go beyond your comfort zone, when success comes or doesn’t, because it’s not the result that matters, but the effort. Then you need to take a step back and think about the person that pushed you into it, the person that didn’t do much but even a word was enough to make you get up from your couch and become better, to fill with experiences, to become someone like them, to help and inspire. Whenever you get the chance, thank them. It’s not that hard, and they will definitely appreciate it.
How optimistic and hopeful does the world become when we appreciate the support of someone else, how much does our ego shrink when we dare to say “I didn’t do it on my own,” how further ahead would the world be if we realized that we rely on cooperation, on solidarity, on humanity, on contribution!
¨If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants,¨ said Newton, creating the most well-known phrase and maybe the best way to thank the people that inspired you.
Thank you, then! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Review: Niki Saridaki
