It’s been an interesting week, and by interesting I mean stressful. So why don’t we lighten things up a bit with some ideas to get us out of our collective anger and funk and into something that does the world some good. I’m talking about kindness.
Kindness is one of those things we probably do when we’re presented with something like holding a door for someone or letting another person get ahead of us in line… but let’s be more intentional. In fact, let’s be more creative about it. Sometimes the smallest and simplest ideas are the best ones. This month, look for ways to make someone else’s life just a little bit better.
Honor a Real-Life Role Model
November is National Inspiration Role Models Month, which is a good reminder to tell the people in your life who have made a difference just how much they’ve inspired you. Very often we appreciate the teachers and mentors in our lives but never tell them about the impact they’ve had on our lives. Now is the time to change that!
A good way to do this is write out a simple but heartfelt thank you in a card. That way your role model can keep this as a treasure to go back to on the days when they need a smile.
Donate a Picture Book
It’s Picture Book Month, so use that as a prompt to purchase or clean out gently used books to give to those in need. Your local library can always use book donations, but be sure to think outside the box and see where else you can make a donation, like women’s shelters, hospitals, or schools.
Send a Kind Note to a Favorite Author
Hello, all the readers out there! November 1st was National Authors Day, but you don’t need just one day to honor your favorite author. Contact them and say thanks for doing what you’re doing. Authors deal with a lot of negativity (deadlines, trolls, negative reviews) so it’s nice to receive something positive once and a while. You can usually find an author’s contact info on their website or blog.
Fill In for a Family Caregiver
The first of the month is also Family Caregiver Day, so if you have someone in your clan who is doing all the work of caring for an elderly parent or grandparent, give them the day off! Caregivers can get burned out quickly with all the demands on them, so a true blue, take time for yourself day will surely be welcome.
Clean Out the Office Refrigerator
Isn’t the office fridge one of the scariest places around? Well, today is National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day, so use that prompt to do the unhappy task of cleaning out all those weird left-behind bags of what is surely now a science project. If your office is like most of them out there, the common refrigerator holds old lunches and smelly foods long abandoned by the office staff so doing this will make you instantly more likeable to the rest of the staff.
Give them notice, though! Let everyone know that by the end of the week you’re going to go to town on the fridge and then do your part to clean up the office kitchen.
Since I work at home and my only coworker is a Schnoodle, I asked my doggie to help me clean out the fridge and she just stared at me, like seriously?
I think I might be on my own on that one. See how lucky all you office folks are?
These are just five small ideas but I hope you’ll use them to come up with some other cool things you can do for someone. Let’s channel all our worry and angst into something that can help out the people around us.
