A short YouTube talk by Betsy Guerra arguing that "minding your own business" can be harmful because it prevents people from offering hope and support. Guerra—speaking from her experience as a therapist and someone who has overcome pain—describes giving unsolicited encouragement (e.g., "you got this," "this won't last forever") and reports seeing positive impact. She frames sharing kindness and hope as a responsibility, and closes with a call to like/subscribe and a link to her website (betterwithbetsy.com).
Chapters
Some people think it's a gift to mind your own business and not get into other people's life. I happen to believe that that is dangerous, and here's why. As a good therapist, I love to tell people what I think and give unsolicited advice. I think I'm helping them by sharing my perspective. People pay me for that. But then my husband sometimes goes like, baby, mind your own business. And he tells me, advice are like, penny, nobody wants them, nobody wants the pennies, so please wait for them to ask for your opinion. And as a good wife, I was tempted to listen to him and stop doing it. But I am glad I didn't. Because whenever I saw someone that was in pain and I approached and I just said something as simple as, how's your heart doing? I know you're gonna be okay. Or, I promise this is not gonna last forever. Or, you got this, you got this. You're stronger than I was. And I was able to find joy again. You can find joy again, too. Whenever I told them things that they didn't ask for, and I saw the impact that it had on them, I realized that if I would have omitted that, if I would have refrained from doing that just to mind my own business, I would have prevented that person from a gift, or from hope, or from possibly feeling that there is light at the end of the tunnel. So the danger of minding your own business is that you may not pay attention or listen to the voice within you that tells you, reach out to that person. Say something. Be kind. Share the love. Bring hope. We are all responsible for bringing hope to the world, and we are all here to share our pain and give hope to others. Because, honestly, I feel that my PhD has not given me any credibility. My pain and the way that I've handled it has. People come to me not because I have a PhD in clinical psychology. They come to me because I've overcome pain. Because I have embodied hope. And so can you. So if you have something to tell someone and that thing that you want to share is meant to raise that person to help them rise, to become a better version of themselves, to help them overcome something or have hope, do not mind your own business. If this was helpful, please remember to like it and subscribe and share with somebody that would benefit from hearing this. And for more resources and tools, you can Visit my website, betterwithbetsy.com.
