How a Smile and Kind Words can Make a Difference

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I feel sometimes that I am not worth much. That I have nothing to offer. the other night I was live streaming on live.me. As the stream started to appear like no one was there, I began singing along with the music I was playing. Then someone piped up and told me they were proud of me. We, along with some others, talked about shyness and self-confidence. I said that live.me has helped me become more confident. I smile more because I've watched my broadcasts and seen how "ugly" I look when I don't smile. So I try to smile all the time. I get many compliments on my smile. That gave me the confidence to keep broadcasting. I saw someone at church on Saturday I hadn't seen in a long time. He said I seemed very chipper. He noticed a difference in me. But that's not the whole story. One person on the stream tonight told me how she has social anxiety disorder and selective mutism. It was late and there didn't seem to be anyone else on the stream. I suggested that she take a step and get into the beam (like Face Time). She didn't do it at first but when she did all that came up was a black screen. She couldn't talk, couldn't show her face, but at times the light of her phone screen lit up her hand clutching at her hair. She continued to communicate with me through typing. She told me she was scared of me because she looked up to me. She told me I was brave. I teared up and told her no one had ever said that to me before. I was patient with her, didn't push her. I got a glimpse of her forehead, even her eyes. When I told her that she said it was an accident. I told her I was very proud of her for making the effort and that she had just taken a big step. She said she couldn't try anymore, that she was tired (this was about a half an hour of me talking to the blank box). I said it was enough for one day and that if we found ourselves alone another time we could try it again. I knew we weren't really alone because I could see the hearts (likes) flying... they were really flying. Whoever was lurking in the background was liking what I was doing. After she left the stream I spoke to the people lurking in the background. I told them to stop hiding, to type something. One didn't type but he did hit the follow button which showed me his name. I continued to talk to whoever was lurking and was near tears at the end of the cast because I felt like maybe, just maybe, I had helped one person tonight. What an amazing feeling! The next night I won a giveaway on someone else's stream so I had to go live to receive it. In doing so a bunch from the other stream came over to mine to show me some love. Then they headed off to another winner's stream. I was about to do that when someone typed in that they felt like the life was draining out of them. I spent the next 15 minutes or so talking him off a ledge. I don't know what he heard because he didn't respond much. He was more discouraged about his lack of progress on the app so I gave him a lot of advice. I've been discouraged about the app, but now I'm not. Now I feel my purpose there might just be to make a difference in someone else's life. If I helped just one person then it's worth it.