People get suspicious, wondering why someone is offering them all this help. Thinking that there must be an ulterior motive. They must want something from me. So, they ignore the offer of help.

Some of the people you reach out to offer help to blatantly ignore the offer you’ve made. They continue to complain about their situation instead.

This really used to leave me feeling confused and to be honest a bit frustrated and even annoyed. .

In fact, both of these things used to really upset me. I felt hurt. And that in turn would trigger me. Why doesn’t that person not want my help? Don’t they like me? Am I not good enough?

That is until I realised, this could be quite overwhelming to some people. And it was. And some people do subconsciously like to hold on to their trauma or whatever is causing pain and discomfort in their life, because it’s comfortable or it’s all they know.

This led me to realise that even though I was asking for nothing in return, I actually still had some expectations around offering to help people. I expected everyone to say yes!

everyone has a choice.

So, if someone refuses the help you offer, don’t be angry, hurt or frustrated. Just be compassionate and patient.

Avoid pressuring them. Explain that you're available if they change their mind, and let them know you'll respect their decision either way.