HOW TO CREATE SOCIAL SUPPORT IN YOUR LIFE

Research shows that healthy and supportive relationships can reduce stress and improve your overall health and sense of well-being. However, all relationships are not equally supportive. Building a network of supportive friends, or even just one supportive relationship can be vital to your well being.  Some skills that can help you to build relationships with people that are truly supportive and sustaining are-

• Meeting People 

 The more people you have in your life, the more likely you are to have truly supportive relationships with at least one of them. It’s beneficial to be able to regularly add new people to your circle. Here are some good ways to meet people

 

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• Assertiveness

People often think of assertiveness as ‘standing up for yourself’ and ‘not letting people push you around’ – basically the alternative to passivity. While this is mostly true, assertiveness is also the alternative to aggressiveness, a way of handling people where you get your needs met at the expense of others’ needs. Developing the skill of assertiveness can really help you strengthen your relationships, making them mutually supportive, lasting and opening the lines of communication.

• Listening to Your Friends

When we’ve had a hard day, sometimes being able to talk to a friend about our feelings is all it takes to turn things around and make stress a feeling of connection and well-being. Being truly listened to and understood can have profound effects on us. When dealing with friends, it’s important to give as well as receive this supportive type of listening when support is truly needed. Here are some things to remember when friends are talking about things that stress or upset them:

• Ask them about their feelings, and listen.
• Reflect back what you hear, so they know you really understand.
• Instead of always trying to tie the conversation back to your experiences, focus questions on them and their feelings.

• Listening to Your Intuition

Some people give off positive energy that makes us feel good, and others give off negative energy that drains us. If you pay attention to the signals that your intuition sends you and act on those signals, you’ll have a healthier social circle. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Does the conversation flow easily, or is it forced?
• Do you feel they truly understand, accept and support you?
• Do you feel you truly understand, accept and support them?
• Do you feel better or worse about yourself when you’re with them?

Not everyone is an appropriate match. If there’s someone in your life who makes you feel bad about yourself, doesn’t share any of your interests or values, or is someone that you just don’t mesh well with, it’s perfectly acceptable to put that relationship on the back burner.

 But it is important to have several people you can count on for support in your life.