Last fall I was really struggling with what I felt was negativity all around me. At my job, at The Boys' job, and just in the world in general. Feeling so smothered by the ick really lit a fire in me to try and be as positive as I could. I made a deliberate effort to try and appreciate the little things around me and in turn wanted to find a way to put some good out in the world.
Several times over the years I've come across posts on Pinterest about people doing good deeds in honor of their birthday and I LOVED the idea! I jumped on the bandwagon and started planning. A lot of people I saw got all of them done on the single day of their birthday. Kudos to them.....but homegirl ain't got that kind of time....or maybe I'm just a lazy ass? I'll let you decide on that one.... but being accepting of my own lazy tendencies I decided I was content with getting it done in the month leading up to my birthday. That's how us lazy girls roll. I'm a big fan of a grace period.
Anywho....I did a bunch of them on my own, but included my nieces in on a handful of them as well. I have a Christmas time sleepover tradition with them at my house and decided to weave the two together. We did a few random acts of kindness before going out to see Christmas lights and made a night out of it.
Here goes!
1. Donated money to a local cat rescue
2. FINALLY....after years of wanting to, I registered to become an organ donor. Now I gotta take good care of these organs so people can get good use out of them someday :)
3. Brought donuts to the staff at my vet clinic. I love and appreciate them so much with all they have done for my MoMo over the years that I wanted them to know how much they mean to our family
4. I took a few hours (really!) to sit down and write good reviews for all the businesses and restaurants I could think of that I have gotten good service from. It may sound small and silly but I feel strongly that far to often people are super vocal when they are unhappy, but don't speak up near enough to give praise. You never know what it could do for a business just by sharing your good experience. I was especially happy I had done it when I got this reply on one of my reviews.
It was a pleasure to know that his daughter read this and could feel such pride in her father at that moment.
5. I left money on a vending machine at work for someone to find
6. Picked up garbage around my neighborhood
7. An old neighbor of mine was not a particularly nice person to be quite honest. She was pretty rude for no apparent reason but I couldn't help but notice that she rarely left her house and never seemed to have anyone over. I worried she might be lonely or unhappy so I drove back to my old neighborhood and left her a little treat and note
8. Donated canned food to the humane society
9. On a particularly hectic day, I bought a coffee for my coworker
10. Left a snack and thank you note for the mailman.
The funny part is that I never have the mailman bring items to my door, but the very next day we got a big Christmas gift package in the mail so he came to the door and thanked us for what we had left him. My nieces were at my house still so it was cool for them to be able to hear it from him themselves
11. Left a free coffee card on the mirror of the bathroom at work for someone to find
12. Did the same with a $5 gift card to buy food in the cafeteria
13, 14, 15. We had fun leaving lottery tickets in random places for people to find. We cracked up that we taped one to a bench and stood back and watched a number of people sit right down next to it and not notice it. We even came back 15 minutes later and it was still there with 3 people sitting on the bench! lol I wonder how long it took to be found
16. We made Rudolph brownies and left them on the windshields of all the cars on my street along with mini candy canes
17. Went to the movie theater and gave a free popcorn and drink coupon to a family
18. I would round up straggler carts in the parking lot and take them to the "cart corral" to help the employees out
19. I donated towels, toys, brushes, and treats to Helping Hands for Homeless Hounds
20. When a new neighbor moved in across the street, I left her cupcakes and a welcome note
21. I left popcorn on a Redbox for someone to enjoy
22. A coworker of mine....actually....technically the manager of the department I worked in seemed particularly stressed. She had a big project put on her that I knew she had little to no guidance on it and I felt bad for her. I bought some good chocolates from the gift shop and left them on her desk. It was small but I was hoping that for just a moment she would feel a little better
23, 24. On two different occasions when I had great customer service in a retail situation, I made a point to get their name and later called the store to share it with the manager
25. Totally random....but I came across some library books left out in public (I know right....how does that even happen? lol) and I drove them to the library they belonged to and returned them
26. I donated snacks to a backpack program for kids (they send less fortunate kids home with non perishable food for the weekend) at the food bank associated with my job
27. Aaaannnnd I'll be quite honest. I was one short so I was kinda stretching toward the end there. But I took 3 days off work to stay with my sister after she had her baby and her husband had to go out of town for work. I'm counting it! lol
Well there ya have it...27 acts of kindness for my 27th birthday. I really enjoyed the experience and I think it would be something really great to have kids do. Instead of their birthday being all about receiving things for themselves, it is a great way to teach them how good it feels to do things for others. Letting them plan some of the items will really engage them through the process. Not to mention the prep work for it can be super fun!
