Gigi Robinson: How to Be There for a Friend in Need

A friend's struggling,

And you kind of see it.

How do you go about that?

How do you approach that?

This is a hard one because,

You know,

I'm about to be 24,

And.

.

.

I've been through all the high school drama.

I've been through people struggling,

Losing people in their life,

Gaining new people,

Heartbreaks,

Bad test scores,

Losing a job.

You name it,

We've seen it.

And I think the number one thing is remembering to take yourself out of the situation.

You're being there for your friend,

But it's not about you.

It's not about what you intend,

Right?

It's about honoring their feelings and supporting them.

So if a friend comes to you and says,

Hey,

You know,

I'm really struggling how can I help you what do you want from me how can I best support you right now do you want advice Do you want me to just listen?

Do you want to just vent?

Do you want me to respond?

Now,

Let's talk about the friend that doesn't necessarily come to you.

That doesn't know that they're having trouble.

You know,

The one that you just kind of see,

Or the one that,

A,

Doesn't know they're having trouble,

Or B,

Is having trouble,

But they're too afraid to be vocal about it.

I'm too afraid to really step out and expose themselves and be that vulnerable.

You know,

Because I'm big on vulnerability,

But I got here.

I used to be this huge introvert who would go through things and say nothing,

And I would just deal with it on my own.

So what do you do if you feel,

Or what would you say to someone?

Or what do you do if you feel someone needs help and how would you approach that?

So if somebody needs help and I'm looking at it from a distance,

A lot of times like,

You know,

Let's go out,

Let's do something fun.

And while you're doing something fun,

Kind of just like.

In a way,

Fishing a little bit,

Asking,

You know,

What's going on?

Like,

How's school been?

How are your parents?

What's going on?

Oh,

Like,

And how are you?

Like,

Not directly jumping from point,

Like,

Don't dive right in.

Because if you dive right in,

You put someone on the spot.

There's some people that can handle that.

Most people are very,

You know,

I need the time to process to talk about myself.

So in asking about other things,

Not just their mental health,

Can kind of help aid that situation.

And it also can give them a little bit of trust.

Like,

Okay,

Yeah,

You care about me.

You care about the other people in my life,

Right?

Which is true.

As friends,

We do naturally care about what's going on in our friends' lives.

But I think making that space and also being like,

Oh,

Okay,

Well,

If you need anything,

You know,

You can always come to me,

Right?

Like a nonjudgmental thing and just being like,

Thank you for sharing.

I appreciate you opening up and sharing that with me.

That's something that also is learned,

Right?

Yep.

You