How to Comfort a Friend When They're Feeling Bad

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There's a danger that we push our emotions away too quickly. Sometimes these emotions can last much longer than we really would want them to. But if you try to jump in with optimism or problem solving, when they're really not ready to feel better yet, then you may just annoy your friend and really not provide them with what they want. I think this is a really good way of having support from friends and everything. It's just, just telling them what you want, right?

What's the best way to help someone who's going through a difficult situation? What are the four states of distress? What are "comfort languages"? How can we introduce more nuance into our everyday thinking habits? When gathering information and forming opinions, how do you know who to trust? What's the difference between intelligence and wisdom?

Kat Woods is the co-founder of Charity Entrepreneurship, a startup incubator for effective altruist charities. It provides training, seed funding, and the other things necessary to kickstart an effective nonprofit. Previously, Kat co-founded Charity Science Outreach, a meta-organization that raised nine counterfactual dollars for high impact charities for every dollar spent. Subsequently she co-founded Charity Science Health, a direct poverty charity that received multiple grants from GiveWell and has served hundreds of thousands of families in India. You can find more about Kat at her website or on Twitter at @kat__woods.

Staff