A Week of Kindness

As you may or may not know,  February 17th marked the start of Random Act of Kindness Week. That week is dedicated to exactly that, performing random acts of kindness. I had no idea that this even existed, but apparently it's been around since 1995, where it was originally just a day. In 2018, it was expanded to encompass a week. I had only come to know of this through social media as another counselling agency was promoting it. I thought it was a great idea and wanted to hop on the bandwagon. 

I couldn't leave it at just that. The therapist in me wanted to monitor change. Monitor how I felt, how I observed others, and how it may impact me in the long run. I decided that each day, I would try a different act of kindness. I would like to preface this by saying that my acts of kindness were not preplanned. Rather, I found opportunities to practice kindness. I felt that preplanning what I would do each day took away the genuine joy that practicing kindness can give.

Here's what that week looked liked:

Monday - "You get a Good Morning, You get a Good Morning, YOU ALL GET A GOOD MORNING" 

I am not a morning person by any stretch of the definition - though I would like to convince myself that I am. I roll out of bed, brush my teeth, begrudgingly make my way to the gym, suffer through (and somewhat enjoy) my workout, shower, breakfast+coffee and then out the door to the office. During this morning "routine" I may come across tens of people and we are mostly all in the same miserable boat - especially on a Monday morning. I decided to change things up a bit by making eye contact, forcing a smile, and wishing these strangers a good morning. If we crossed paths in the hallway, you get a good morning. If you and I shared the same elevator, you get a good morning. If you were my bus driver that day, you get a good morning. I was the Oprah of good mornings that day. It felt great! I initially liked the surprised looks I got that morning as no one really expects strangers to converse with you any more. There was a feeling of community and commonality in that moment, which put me in a great mood. I can only hope that it made them feel great as well and hopefully, they were able to pass on their own good morning to strangers.

Tuesday - "Lemmie holla at your hustle and grind"

I follow a lot of ambitious and talented individuals on social media. These individuals have moderate to massive followings because of the work they put out there. For this day's act of kindness, I decided to come out of my comfort zone and message those individuals who I thought were inspirational and I wanted to praise their work and congratulate their growth. I reached out to various artists on their success, working moms who grind through all hours of the day, young entrepreneurs, and those who have achieved their fitness goals. Although I thought this would be a one day event, I actually found myself continuing that practice. It made me want to continue rooting for their success and I found it inspired me to work hard to achieve my goals as well.

Wednesday- Would you like fries with that?

A friend of mine was sending me a series of texts about how terrible his day had been going. He was splashed with slushy snow as he was walking to the subway and then didn't find a seat during his 45 minute commute. Once he got to his office, he learned that the Wi-Fi was down, meaning that he wouldn't be able to get started on his work.  Then to top it all off, he left his wallet at home. As comical as it was from my stance, he was miserable. This was a great opportunity for me to brighten up his day. He loves loves loves A&W burgers so I had UberEats deliver them to his workplace. It changed his mood instantly. I, in turn, was happy to see my friend feel that his day can turn around.

Thursday - I can see into your future

I volunteer on Thursdays. I didn't count this as my act of kindness, FYI. However, we do have a lot of student interns at the centre. Our interns are eager to plan out their future after graduation and are often anxious about what life holds once they leave school. I saw today as an opportunity to help ease their anxiousness. Usually, I leave the centre quickly so I can make my way to the office so that I can get some work done. However, today I decided to hang back and talk to the interns about how things are going for them and what their goals are. I spent some time with giving them tips or insights, as well as sharing my own journey. I don't know if I was able to squash their anxieties entirely, but I can tell that it helped somewhat. I felt great as well - I saw this as a full circle moment as I remembered myself being in their shoes and how I was a fiend for any information that would be helpful

Friday - Come on In

As a therapist, our days can be pretty isolating. The only person you get to talk to is your inner self and the clients that you see. It can be a very lonely profession if you're doing it on your own. Interestingly, there are several therapists that work on my floor, and although we talk to each other in passing, we don't actually talk to each other. I decided to break out of that comfort zone and I engaged in a deep conversation with another therapist on my floor. We sat on the couch and just gabed about our professional lives, our journeys, techniques, the struggles of being a therapist, and anything else that came to mind. It felt great to relate to someone in the same field and who I see quite regularly. I hope she enjoyed that conversation as much as I did.

On the weekend-  I did nothing but practice self-kindness. I had an exhausting week of work and just wanted to chill at home. I set the bar low in terms of cleanliness of the house and the time in which chores and errands needed to get done. I gave myself permission to unwind, order some take out, cook minimally, and go at a very slow pace. It was great to recharge and refresh.

Reflection

It wasn't hard to practice kindness. In each of these cases, I didn't have to go out of my way to practice kindness. It was in the moment and I was only able to do so when the opportunity arose. This goes to show that we all have the ability to practice kindness, but we may not be conscious of these opportunities because we are so busy in our own head/ own world. Since I was aware that I needed to practice kindness for this experiment, it was easy for me to act on it. However, if I regressed into my regular way of being (in my head and only thinking about my to-do list) I wouldn't have been mindful of the opportunities that were obviously in front of me.

I enjoyed how I felt after these acts. I liked the feeling I had when I felt like I was spreading happiness or that I was able to help someone turn their day around. My only hope is that there is a domino effect in which this would then encourage the receiver to then become the giver.

Try it out yourself!