Have you considered local volunteer work? You could go give blood. You could visit a retirement home and bring some board games for the residents to play. Just some ideas. I don’t think you’re self centered. You reflect on how you can be less self centered, and most self centered people don’t do that.
Off My Chest
RULES:
I am looking for mods!
1. The "good" part of our community means we are pro-empathy and anti-harassment. However, we don't intend to make this a "safe space" where everyone has to be a saint. Sh*t happens, and life is messy. That's why we get things off our chests.
2. Bigotry is not allowed. That includes racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and religiophobia. (If you want to vent about religion, that's fine; but religion is not inherently evil.)
3. Frustrated, venting, or angry posts are still welcome.
4. Posts and comments that bait, threaten, or incite harassment are not allowed.
5. If anyone offers mental, medical, or professional advice here, please remember to take it with a grain of salt. Seek out real professionals if needed.
6. Please put NSFW behind NSFW tags.
That's going to be a long path. Start with small steps to train yourself. Set weekly goals/reminders of what change you want to see. Start by forcing you to actively listen and engage in the conversation. Train yourself to remember what the other person said. If you don't feel like helping, ask yourself why (after the conversation is over) and actively decide that your reason is valid and you indeed don't want to/can't help. If the reason is not valid, offer to help. Also, start conversations with other people as small talk. That way, not all conversations are about what people need from you. Train yourself to stop seeing conversations as something where you need to solve people's problems. If they are not actively asking your help, maybe they don't need it. Maybe they're just offloading some frustration or see you as a friend with whom they can share personal stuff.
Not all talked about problems require a direct solution from yourside. Sometimes people just want somebody who symphatizes with them and feels with them. And that's enough and the only thing they want from you. Unfortunately, being a human means all interactions are selfcentered from the startingparty point of view. So view them as part of life.
The amount of I’s and myself’s in this makes me uncomfortable.