Life Lessons | Personal Essay

What’s Left in Your Basket?

You need to fill your basket before there’s nothing left

There once was a girl who had more kindness in her soul than ten people. She loved giving things away. It was like she carried a basket of apples, and she gave one to everyone she met. If someone needed something from her, she gave it, happy to help out a fellow human being. This girl got married and had several children. She gave them all of her time and energy. They would take and take as children do. Her friends would also take from her. The problem was no one ever gave back. The worst problem was that she didn’t expect them to.

The day finally came when the girl reached into her basket to give to someone else and grabbed nothing but air. Her basket was empty. She gave and gave but never took the time to put anything back into her basket, so she had nothing left to give. Not even to herself. The girl felt such sadness. Not only that she had given everything away, but that her kindness had not inspired the same in the people she bestowed it upon. What was she going to do?

She decided that she was going to have to take time to fill up her basket since none of the people around her were willing to fill it. She did so and began to learn to give a little less freely. When someone would ask for something, she would think about it first. When a person wanted something, she began to ask for her needs in return. They soon learned that giving back to her meant there would always be something there for them when they needed it.

If you want to read more about how we give up a part of ourselves to please another, read this post by Sheri Jacobs. It’s powerful.

Thank you to all the authors on Hope, Healing, Humor. Your honesty in sharing your pain and healing is inspiring.