These days you might be feeling powerless and uncertain about what you can do to help yourself and others cope. The truth is...
The world needs you.
The world needs your ideas, your strategies, your best coping tools (creativity).
The world needs you to talk curiously, with interest, to those around you, to let them express themselves and release their burdens (curiosity).
The world needs your ways of thinking rationally and balanced, showing the many voices in our heads that can counterbalance the inner voices of panic and anxiety (judgment).
The world needs you to keep learning and growing in new ways, so you can feel good about your day or week (love of learning).
The world needs your sound advice, a glimpse of the bigger picture amidst the scary details (perspective).
The world needs your bravery—the courage to help someone you’ve never helped, the courage to dust off the strengths you’ve allowed to erode, the courage to see the world anew despite fear (bravery).
The world needs you to persevere—to push through huge obstacles and suffering you’ve never faced before (perseverance).
The world needs your truthfulness—now is not a time for exaggeration, fake news, or guesswork (honesty).
The world needs your enthusiasm—we can get sucked dry as we try to create a new normal or take a peek at the surrounding uncertainty—but each time you uplift your energy, you help others (zest).
The world needs your love—every ounce of warmth, genuineness, and care matters right now—each ounce is worth 10 times its original value (love).
The world needs you to not lose sight of your compassion and generosity or your active seeking of ways to help (kindness).
The world needs your empathy—every country, every neighborhood, every being can be a subject of your concern (social intelligence).
The world needs you to see that you are a citizen of the world, not living on an island alone, but part of a (very) large group that can choose to be collaborative (teamwork).
The world needs you to act fairly—instead of hoarding, give; instead of blaming, praise; instead of being the victim, be the hero to someone (fairness).
The world needs your leadership—your fresh ideas will inspire the different groups you are part of (leadership).
The world needs you to let go of the family irks, slights, and irritations that will fill your mind (forgiveness).
The world needs you to sometimes put the attention on others and not yourself (humility).
The world needs you to be cautious every time you leave home, at least for a while (prudence).
The world needs you to be under control, not riddled with contagious anger because you’ve been restricted; instead, be contagious with your peacefulness (self-regulation).
The world needs you to feel elevated, which means to be inspired by the good actions of others…because that means you’ll be more likely to be altruistic too (appreciation of beauty/excellence).
The world needs your hope and your silver linings offered thoughtfully, as so many around us are falling into cracks of darkness and despair (hope).
The world needs your appreciation because that shows others you are seeing them and their kind acts, and they will then do more of them (gratitude).
The world needs your humor (!)—your playfulness, your ability to create levity when we feel heavy and frazzled (humor).
The world needs you to see we are all in this together, interconnected, that every action does not occur in a silo, but it has a preceding action and a consequence (spirituality).
Said briefly, character strengths are an imperative right now in this world. They are not a luxury, a trivial thing, or “something nice”; they are tough-loaded, resilience-based, and crucial at times of adversity. And all of your strengths matter. All 24 of them. The world is requiring “the all” that is in all of us.
The world needs you.
All of you.
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