A Sprinkle of Kindness

November 13th was National World Kindness Day. It sparked my interest to possibly elaborate and write about the topic of kindness today, but I was not 100% sure about it. As I went grocery shopping before my work shift this morning, I passed by two different vanity license plates. One read: BEKIND and the other read: BEHAPPY. If that is not a clear enough sign for me to dive deeper on this subject then I don’t know what is. Let’s start out this week with a bit of reflecting. What is one act of kindness that you performed recently?

Kindness has been at the center of my vision for this blog – along with spreading encouragement, inspiration, and positivity. I want to strive to be as kind as I can be, and ultimately remembered for it. I end each of my blog posts with “Remember to stay humble and kind, always!” because spreading kindness fills your soul and is truly always the answer. My aunt, uncle, and cousin gifted me with an Always stay humble & kind sign for my birthday this year, which is pictured below. It perfectly captures my blog motto, and are words that I encourage everyone to live by. Kindness is a choice, and with it comes compassion.

I, along with many others who can surely relate, have been bullied over time. What I have had to endure and learn is that words certainly sting and can snowball into bigger problems. What I vowed to myself after experiencing unkind moments was to be a breath of fresh air to everyone I come across. Nobody is perfect, and there are times where we definitely say something we do not mean, but it is how you reflect and improve upon your actions that leads to self-growth. On the flip side, what makes you be unkind at times? To choose to be unkind is to choose to project your personal negative thoughts and insecurities onto somebody else. Definitely do not settle for being treated poorly in instances of bullying, etc. Instead, know your worth, and choose to spread kindness, or remove yourself from negative spaces and do not give the negative situations any of your energy. Protect yourself and spread nothing but love onto others.

You truly do not know what someone may be going through. Whether it is someone having a bad day, or a series of unfortunate events that have piled up over time to reflect poor behavior onto others, we must strive to rise above and be the better person by treating those around us with kindness and compassion. There have definitely been times when we wish we could have been cut some slack when having an off day. Showing empathy, kindness, and compassion can truly change the trajectory of someone’s life and impact them to grow for the better.

“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Why is it that we are so taken aback when someone in front of us at a drive-thru pays for our coffee, or someone in front of us at a toll booth pays for our toll, or someone compliments us out of thin air? We should not expect these random acts of kindness on a daily basis, but we should normalize it. When you embody kindness, you should not expect anything in return, but instead hope to brighten someone’s day. I recall this one moment last year during the holiday season where I was Christmas shopping, and drove to three separate Starbucks locations for my favorite seasonal coffee flavor, and they were all sold out. I detoured and hopped into the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru and they happened to be out of my favorite flavor there too, so I opted to try a new kind. In that moment, I felt defeated because I spent so much time driving around only to be let down in each occurrence. When I approached the window to pay, the barista told me the car in front of me had paid for my order. I was overwhelmed with emotion and decided to pass the joy along by paying for the car behind me too. The car in front of me had driven away before I could even wave or say thank you, but it just goes to show that you have no idea what kind of day someone is having, and one random act of kindness can turn someone’s frown upside down.

Being kind is priceless, so sprinkle it everywhere you go. If you have the means to, you can pay for someone’s order. However, there are endless possibilities about how to contagiously spread joy. It can be as simple as showering someone with a compliment. How you choose to wake up and act each day is up to you. Nobody is born with poor behavior. It is a learned trait. You are in control of your own actions and emotions, and nobody else’s, so do not let anyone strip your joy away from you. You have the ability to brush off poor behavior and not let it consume you. You must also learn to treat yourself with kindness. If you nit-pick and talk negatively about your image or your worth, then how can you even begin to properly treat others with kindness if you lack it for your own self? It all starts with loving yourself kindly, so that way you can do the same in return for others.

Leave a wholesome smile and lasting impression with everyone that you come across. I am at the happiest point in my life, and it shifted as soon as I really prioritized thinking about how my mood, presence, and actions have a domino effect on others. Why be anything else, if you can choose to be kind all of the time?

Remember to stay humble and kind, always!

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xo –Jess