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Discover the Many Ways that Giving is Good for You

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times, “it’s better to give than it is to receive.” Although you may participate in giving out gifts around the holidays, on special occasions, or for charities and groups who’ve asked, perhaps you never really thought to pay attention to how it makes you feel and improves your life. Giving, whether it’s your love, time, money, or a gift, is beneficial in so many ways. Some of these benefits you’ll find listed below:

Discover the Many Ways that Giving is Good for You

Improves Self-Esteem

From secretly helping a family member who’s going through a rough time financially to signing up for summer volunteer programs, one of the many rewards of giving is how good you feel about yourself. It provides you with a sense of purpose and allows you to have compassion and empathy for others. Seeing others benefit from whatever time or money you were able to donate makes you feel great and encourages you to do it again and again.

Reduces Depression Risks

For adults suffering from depression, giving can help improve your mood. People who are prone to helping others feel a sense of purpose and seem to have better control over their lives. This reduces a lot of depressive symptoms like hopelessness or feelings of meaninglessness. Those who support others can also help others to reduce their risk of depression. For instance, comforting a family member and being there after they’ve lost a loved one can make them feel appreciated and supported which can help them to get through the phases of grief a lot easier.

Improves Your Physical Health

People who have a low self-esteem or suffer from depression are at a higher risk for heart disease and other medical conditions. Volunteering, gift giving, or supporting others can help with this. As your mental health improves, it helps to reduce these risks. When a person feels good about who they are and what they do for others, they are more inclined to take care of themselves mentally and physically. Reduced blood pressure helps to lower risks of diabetes and heart disease.

Strengthens Relationships

Whether romantic or platonic, relationships are just as much about what you give as what you receive. If you’re willing to give to your spouse or friends more than you’re looking to take from them, your relationships will greatly improve because of it. Giving your spouse your undivided attention, for instance, lets them know you care about them and encourages them to devote time and attention to you. Being a listening ear for a friend going through hard times is another example of showing support that can have positive results.

It Makes Others Feel Good

When you give your time, buy a gift, or use your energy to help others, it pays off in a big way. Perhaps one of the biggest payoffs is the joy it brings to the faces and lives of others. Being a mentor to younger children, helping to clean up your neighborhood, donating money to a charity, or even supporting a business with a cause help make other people feel good.

It Benefits Others

When you give, for instance, to a charity, it benefits others. A company donating a portion of their sales to a charity for cancer research benefits cancer patients in being close to a cure. If you donate to the local Girl or Boy Scout Troop, you’re investing in a program that is fun and educational for local youth. If you donate blood, it can help those who are ill or injured to get replenished without further consequences. The list goes on and on.

There is no other way to slice it when you put forth an effort to give back to others, you get a lot in return without even expecting it. The gift of giving causes a rippled effect of happiness that impacts not only your life but the lives of others. Whether you give your time, money, or a gift to a loved one, children in the community, the homeless, a local hospital, the military, or some other good cause, it will come back to you tenfold.

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