In January 2014, I dropped out of music university with not much to go on; I wanted to play full-time and see what happened while I had all the freedom in the world. One of the only tangible things I had was a regular gig that paid a couple hundred dollars a month, given to me by some generous people who saw something in me, whether that was any shred of honesty and hard work or just the willingness to plug away at a musical role for them.
Last year around this time, someone else saw something in me and provided me work just when I needed it the most, when I lost a job.
This year, I saw someone in a somewhat similar place and gave them some tasks for a bit of work. I don't know how much it's helping, but I know it's something. I know I felt like I had something to pay forward.