How to Be Emotionally Supportive

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Learn about Emotional Support

When it comes to going through especially painful moments in our lives, we often tend to forget that these negative emotions and feelings are experienced very differently if we have the support of others.

Sadness, helplessness, or disappointment should not be suffered in complete solitude, also, if we live in society it is to receive help and help others.

In fact, it is normal that when we see that someone is in a bad mood, we have the impulse to help them. But knowing the right way to provide emotional support isn't necessarily easy, and it's relatively easy to make mistakes.

That is why today we are going to share a series of tips to learn how to emotionally support someone.

Tips for Giving Emotional Support

Down below, you'll find several tips to know how to give emotional support from relatively simple steps.

Applying them well takes some practice, but with time and effort, you are likely to see significant improvements in the way you help the other person better cope with their bad emotional situation.

1. Choose the right context

Choosing the right time and place is a necessary and insufficient condition for knowing how to provide emotional support.

The main thing is to be in a moment that is not transitory, that is, that it does not end soon (for example, going through an elevator).

That is not strongly linked to an important experience that is not related to what causes you discomfort (for example, making a presentation at a congress), and that allows some privacy.

The physical characteristics of the place are also something to take into account.

Much better if it is a place with few distractions and where communication is easy: free from noise, sudden changes, etc.

2. Let the other person give you the information you want

It is important not to pressure the other person to give us all the information we need to know exactly how they feel. The simple fact of feeling that pressure is another cause of stress that accentuates the discomfort.

If you see her approaching a gang, just give her a chance to open up more by telling her directly that she can count on you for anything and realizes she won't be judged.

For the latter, it is necessary to maintain a serious whole that expresses empathy, and not play too much with the possible cause of the other's emotional pain. It is a mistake to insinuate that what makes you feel bad is actually absurd because from that perspective it is impossible to connect with the other.

3. Exercise active listening

When the person is speaking, it is important to signal that he is making an effort to understand what he is saying and the implications of what he is saying.

Opening up about what makes us feel bad is already intimidating for a lot of people, and if you don't feel like you're doing great either, the incentives to accept our support are gone.

To do this, practice active listening and make this moment really a symmetrical personal interaction in which one expresses themselves and the other supports them and tries to understand how the other feels.

Maintain eye contact, make comments without interrupting abruptly, recap the information given by the other person, etc.

4. Validate their emotions

This clearly shows that you know what he's feeling makes sense, even if you obviously don't feel the same way.

This is important because otherwise there is probably a disconnect between you two because you haven't been through exactly the same thing.

Do not ridicule their ideas or feelings, on the contrary, show that you know that they have a reason for being sad.

5. Talk about your perspective

This is something that is often overlooked, but it is very useful. It is true that when it comes to providing emotional support, what is important is what the person who is going through emotional discomfort feels, but it is also true that if you talk about what you believe, you are indicating that you are involved.

Try to establish a parallelism between what happens to the other person and what happened to you. Also, this perspective can help you see your experiences from another point of view.

Then, after hearing the main thing about his case, you can give them this brief feedback, but do not let the conversation turn to a completely different topic - it must be something that is included in the act of supporting them, then this happens.

6. Point out the possibility of a hug

It is possible to make them hug each other if the other person wants to.

But you should not ask directly or make a clear gesture that shows that you are going to hug, because if you do not want to, it can leave a bad taste in your mouth since you will feel guilty if you refuse.

Usually, the best thing is something more subtle: a pat on the shoulder or on the back that serves as an excuse to get closer, and that, if the other person wants, turns into a hug. Let the other be the one to take that step.

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