I was running down the street this morning when a man in a small truck passed by me playing an old hip hop song called OPP by Naughty by Nature. We will go with the radio-friendly version of that acronym. Other People’s Property. The question in the song rang out as he passed me by. You down with OPP? Yeah, you know me.
That got me thinking about a cure for people struggling with their own challenges. If there is one thing that can help dig you out of melancholy, it is working on OPP. Or in this case, Other People’s Problems. When you deal with other people’s problems, it pulls you out of your own head and makes you focus on something completely unrelated. Usually, it humbles you and makes you realize how good you have it.
There is something almost medicinal about stepping outside your own struggle and into someone else’s, not in a voyeuristic way, not in a way that makes you feel superior, but in a way that reminds you that you are not the only person carrying weight. When you are stuck in your own loop, your problems become the entire world. They fill every corner of your mind. They grow larger with each passing hour. But when you turn your attention to someone else, when you ask what they need and how you can help, the loop breaks.
This is not about distraction. This is about perspective. When you help someone move furniture, listen to a friend work through a decision, or volunteer at a shelter or a food bank, you are reminded that life is bigger than your current discomfort. You see people facing challenges that make yours look small. You see people handling burdens with grace that you did not know was possible. You see resilience in places you did not expect to find it.
And something else happens. You stop being the center of your own story. You become a supporting character in someone else’s, and that shift is powerful. It reminds you that you are capable of contributing, that you have something to offer, and that your hands, your time, and your attention have value. When you are stuck in your own head, it is easy to forget that. It is easy to believe that you are useless, that you have nothing to give, that you are just taking up space. But when you help someone else, you prove to yourself that you are not.
Set aside time at least once a month, and perhaps even once a week, to focus on OPP. This could be in the form of church service, or volunteer work, or just helping a family member out. It does not have to be grand. It does not have to be organized. It just has to be real. Show up. Ask what is needed. Do the thing that needs doing. The benefits of doing this are amazing, and it helps you feel better.
The act of helping someone else is not a distraction from your own work. It is part of your own work. It is part of the practice of being human. It is part of the discipline of showing up, of keeping promises, of doing the next small thing. When you help someone else, you are not abandoning your own commitments. You are reinforcing them. You are reminding yourself that the work matters, that the effort counts, that the struggle is not pointless.
So yes, I am down with OPP. Not the version from the song, but the version that pulls you out of your own spiral and reminds you that you are part of something larger. The version that humbles you, that grounds you, that gives you a reason to keep moving. The version that turns your attention outward and shows you that the best way to help yourself is often to help someone else.
