October Kindness Challenge

Last Saturday I said to Don, "I did a good deed today." He replied, "I'm not surprised, that sounds like you. What did you do, did you help a little old lady cross the street?"

After chuckling at the little old lady comment, I told him what I did. It felt good to be thought of as someone who helps others. Lately politics has had me down and I don't feel as if I have been adding positively to the world. I'm still upset with myself for hurting a long-time friend's feelings by stating publicly I'm against all the current President stands for, and don't think very highly of people who voted for him. While I wrote that on Facebook, and I stand behind my words, I did not mean to hurt her. Then again she hurt me by ignoring the times I reached out to her in the past year. 

Lots of hurt to go around.

With the new month, I want to challenge myself to do something kind every day.

Jane Goodall, who passed away yesterday, is famous for saying "You cannot go through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to do."

I want to make a difference for good.

Saturday's good deed was stopping to let someone use my car to jump start theirs. They had been sitting there for a while with the jumper cables at the ready, but no one stopped. I saw him when I was walking towards my car. I told myself if he was still there when I had my car, I would stop. So I did. Wearing high heels and pearls, I was quite a sight as I tried to figure out how to open my hood. It took only a few moments, and he was able to go on his way.

A half an hour later I helped a little old lady cross the street. Well, across the campus to the event, and she wasn't that old.

The next day I returned a library book to the elementary school after it was left in my Little Free Library.

Wednesday, October 1: Volunteered at the English School

Thursday, October 2: Edited a friend's book

Friday, October 3: Told a neighbor I don't know I admire how well he was able to grow new grass 

Saturday, October 4: Went to see a friend perform

Sunday, October 5: Notarized a document

Monday, October 6: Checked in with a friend receiving treatments

Tuesday, October 7: Donated socks to Socktober at the library

Wednesday, October 8: Cheered on runners during my walk

Thursday, October 9: Sent a friend a picture of the fall foliage

Friday, October 10: Gave a stranger a ride home. Bonus point: he only speaks French and I was able to communicate with him.

Saturday, October 11: Cleaned up after a friend's party

Sunday, October 12: Drove out of town guests around

Monday, October 13: Cleaned up my parents' house after company left

Tuesday, October 14: Picked up litter during my walk

Wednesday, October 15: Picked up Don's book from the library

Thursday, October 16: Volunteered to look for the last runners in a race when they went missing

Friday, October 17: Brought a friend to a show

Saturday, October 18: Brought friends to a protest

Sunday, October 19: Turned the heat on Don's side of the bed before he climbed in

Monday, October 20: I can't point to anything I did, but I did witness Don offering his arm to an elderly person going down a couple of stairs. I'd like to think that my kindness is rubbing off on him.

Tuesday, October 21: Sent positive feedback to a group on an online presentation they arranged over the weekend

I'll try to remember to keep updating this. The point is, small things add up to big ones. It is actually hard to remember what I did on each day. Some days I have more than one action that could be categorized as a kindness, other days I can't think of one. There are days I anticipate in advance what my kindness will be, and then a different opportunity presents itself and I chose that instead.

If you are inspired by reading this, share your good deeds.