Let me offer a few thoughts that were first planted in me by a Religious Studies teacher at university:
If we were meant only to serve ourselves, we would all be born as islands.
Love cannot exist where there is power over, however; love exists for all when we serve one another.
While his words stayed with me, unfortunately, his name did not. But he did inspire me to ask myself: How can I be of service today?
One Woman's Quest II 
im sure the reason we are given gifts is so that we can serve each other even when there is no answer to that question. i for one enjoyed the post. to give you a hint as to how you can continue to serve (apart from your wonderful blog) i will tell you a quick story– ive had the hardest year of my life so far. the three things people have done that helped the most:
ive had the occasional hand with an errand i can technically do myself, but the hand was very welcome; ive had patient and mostly not-very-judgmental friends to talk to; that has helped immensely; and warm hugs. a lot of people do give crappy hugs, like theyre afraid it will spread disease or be interpreted as some kind of mating ritual (this is almost never valid.) fortunately outside the usa, this lame hug endemic is not very widespread. if you spend enough time searching, you can find good quality hugs even in the states. they are no small help– properly implemented they are still one of the best tools in the world in the fight against despair. so hug early; hug often– your nation is depending on you.
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So sorry you have had a hard year, I hope you are finding some light at the end of it all. Do virtual hugs count?
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of course! though if you find yourself in my (exact) part of the usa for some reason, you might have to give me a real one 🙂 i will certainly understand if you avoid it– its not as crazy as they make it out to be, but it sort of is.
(especially the first day of shopping after thanksgiving. definitely fly over us then, i would!)
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