Listen music to relax

One time I let a friend live with me for a bit while they were trying to get back on their feet, which was a bit of an extreme circumstance. Otherwise it’s the usual “friend stuff” like listening to them vent about their problems–usually relationship-related, or helping them out with small emergencies.

I pay for my friend’s meals sometimes, make them food, if I have extra money (which is not often) sometimes I’ll buy them a thing they’ve been needing for a while, etc

my good friend complained to me how his anxiety has been awful lately and kept him awake at night and told me how he feels like he needs a silly little stuffed animal to hug at night to help. So, while I was at a bookstore looking for something to get myself, I noticed that they also sold cute stuffed bunnies and thought that I could get it for him. He loved it! I don’t know if it helped much, because he never told me, but he did say how he sleeps with it every night, which made me quite happy 🙂

The other week, my mother was complaining how she wasn’t able to grade tests because not a single one of our red ink pens was working. This is something that really upset her, given how small of a problem it honestly was, so the next day (on International women’s day, yep!), as I was on my way to class, I walked pass a office supplies store and thought to myself: “Okay, I should definitely get her a red ink pen…” And that I did! She was incredibly happy when I gave it to her and even bought me cheesecake as a thank you the next day!

When my friends are going through tough times, I usually try to talk and check up on them as often as I can. Though, unless it’s an extreme example of a friend going through a hard time (as in the answer above), my help tends to be more verbal than anything else. I do try to help as much as they let me and I can, but I also do think that talking as a way of help is something I’m better at than other ways. Occasionally I do to try to take my friends out on walks or picnics to try to get them to get some fresh air…

One time, I helped prepare meals for a friend who was going through a relatively hard period in their life and couldn’t take care of themselves well. They didn’t really want my help fully (as in they didn’t want me to help clean their apartment, do their laundry and other chores) as they felt it was too embarrassing to be taken care of, but eventually settled on having me help with meal prep. This was great for me, because cooking is something that I’m good at and at least like to do compared to other chores! It was a bit hard to think of certain meals to make, since my…

I gave a friend a ride to a mechanic shop from work because he finished work early before his scheduled shuttle. I also happened to finish work at the same time he did.

All I ever did was actively listen to a friend. They had all the thoughts in their head that they wanted to speak out and someone to listen. We were camping, it was at night around a campfire everyone else was asleep except for them and I. I asked them how they were but actually asked them how they genuinely were. Then the venting session happened and I listened.

I helped my friend study for a test for a subject that they had a really hard time with, and i talked to them about their problems to help them feel better.