Friendship: Stepping Outside Our Comfort Zones to Make Others Feel Loved

by Jyl Johnson Pattee on March 7th, 2010 | 6 Comments »

Today an amazing thing happened. A gal from my neighborhood stopped by my house. What's amazing is the reason why.

I opened the door to her big smile. She seemed a little embarrassed and anxious and all at once blurted out, "I miss you!" She shrugged her shoulders and the smile appeared again and she said, "I'm trying to reach out to the people I care about." I quite literally wanted to scoop her up. What do you do with such amazing kindness?

I probably acted cool, calm, and collected. But, what she did was HUGE! She stepped outside her comfort zone to make me feel loved. And she succeeded!

Then I got to thinking about something that has been on my mind for a while. How often do we take advantage of opportunities to reach out to others right when we feel like we should? You know the nudge, right? You feel like you should go up to someone, or include her in your group, or help her feel part of the crowd, or stop by her house to let her know you miss her, or invite her to do something when you think she is the busiest person in the world and wouldn't possibly have time for you. But, if you're anything like me, sometimes it seems a little weird or uncomfortable or awkward. After all, what will that person think? How will she react? Will he think I'm stupid?

I can tell you from very recent experience (as in 5 minutes ago) that I didn't feel like this gal was anything but lovely!

What's even more awesomesauce than my feelings of being cared about is that now I want to go and help someone else feel this way. It feels AMAZING to be cared about like that, but the thought of spreading the love is even more appealing and exciting!

What will you do this week to spread seeds of friendship, step outside of your comfort zone, and help someone feel loved?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

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Jyl Johnson Pattee

An active part of the Mom It Forward team, Jyl primarily writes about parenting, social good, and all things travel related. In a past life, Jyl was an award-winning copywriter and designer of corporate training programs for Fortune 100 companies. Offline, Jyl is married to @TroyPattee; a mom to two teen boys and a beagle named #Hashtag; loves large amounts of cheese, dancing, and traveling; and lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Topping her bucket list is the goal to visit 50 countries by the time she's 50.