I’m not going to lie, this week has been a ridiculously hard one. It’s been a “kick you in the crotch, spit on your neck fantastic” kind of week- to quote Rachel Green. In all honesty, there’s been a number of times that I wanted to quit, just give up and let things get the better of me. BUT, it’s the small things that kept me going this week.

Firstly… why am I telling you all this?

Well… because we all have hard days, hard weeks, hard months. We all have times where we want to give up. But maybe, if we can see how important the small things that people do for us can be, it will help us to help others who are having a hard time. Here’s some of the small things that have helped me this week…

A letter from a family friend

A family friend knew that I was having a rough week and she sent me the most lovely letter in the post. She spoke life into the areas where I was feeling the lowest. In her letter, she built me up. She encouraged me to keep going. I’m so thankful for her and the way that she kept me going when it would have been so easy for me to quit.

Spending time with friends

My friends really got alongside me this week and helped me out when I needed them the most. Whether it was watching movies, ordering late night deserts or just letting me have a cry, I wouldn’t have got through the week without them. It’s true that having good friends around you really is necessary when your whole world feels like it’s crumbling.

Talking things through

This week, one of my friends looked straight at me and said “You’re not okay. What’s wrong?” It wasn’t the right place for me to tell her so she suggested we went somewhere after our lecture to chat. I’m so thankful that she saw something was wrong and reacted. The fact that she allowed me the opportunity to talk things through was such a blessing. For me, talking things through is a way of processing my emotions and my friend allowed me this. Not once did she judge, she simply listened to me- and that was enough.

Taking time to rest

In the midst of a hard week it can so easy to get caught up in the madness. This week I’ve found taking time to rest so refreshing. I’ve allowed my work to come second to me looking after myself, which this week has been a priority. Rest for me has looked like reading, watching Netflix, getting takeout instead of cooking and taking time to just be. I’m so thankful for the friends who have allowed me time to rest this week rather than nagging me to get on with what I should be doing.

The small things that can really make the difference to somebody when they’re going through a hard time. Maybe we could all think about the small things we could do day in, day out for people… you never know how much it could help them!