Day #2 of 40 Random Acts of Kindness before I turned 40: To Make a Difference and Live a Life of Significance

Thanks for coming back for Day #2 of 40 Random Acts of Kindness...

I had my goal of significance defined and decided that forty random acts of kindness would be how I would realize my goal.  So then, the questions were where to begin and how to accomplish this task for myself?  My first random act of kindness came when I began to find accountability partners for my goal.  Accountability partners are people who you encourage you to keep your commitment.  You can share your goal with a person whom you trust and then you are accountable to them to be a person of your word.    

My friend and I are learning to golf together.  We encourage each other and cheer for the occasional good, solid swings.  She and I finished at the driving range one day and went to have a beer and catch up.  We had a young waitress who had a big smile, the best attitude, and pictures of her young baby girl on her order tablet.  She overheard my friend and me talking about how grateful we were (about what I cannot recall).  She interrupted us and talked about her being grateful as well, and even pulled out a small, smooth rock from her apron and said that it was her “grateful rock”.  We looked at her puzzled and she explained that this was her tangible reminder to be grateful.  She was very sincere and explained that she and her husband were working and taking care of their young baby and that at times their lives seemed overwhelming.  It was in those moments that she stops and holds the rock and remembers to be grateful for the positive things in her life.  She was very kind and out of her apron she produced two more rocks and gave them to us.  They were small, smooth, and nothing especially unique about them except for what they represent.  I had just finished sharing my random act of kindness commitment with my friend.  This was it!  I said to her, “This is my first one."   I thought back to my own experience waiting tables when I was twenty years old and hoping to make diaper money and baby food money during my shift for my young baby girl at home.  I had the same baby pictures of my daughter in my order book and just as many hopes and dreams.  I then realized that I was right where this young lady had been almost exactly twenty years ago.  We had a $6.00 tab together for our two beers after golfing.  I decided to leave her a twenty dollar tip and write her a note of encouragement.  I told her to stay positive, keep her wonderful attitude, to follow her dreams, and to love and appreciate her baby girl when she was still little.  I told her that I had been in her situation myself and am in a much different place now and I wished her the best.  I also told her that she was my first of forty random acts of kindness.  I left the restaurant with my friend ---both of us were glowing.   We were almost floating to the car.  The feeling that gave me was so incredible.

Over the next few weeks and months, I found a few small ways to meet my goal.  I helped an elderly lady put her groceries in her car and bought coffee for a stranger at a gas station.  I shared my apples with my peers at work and thanked several public service workers for what they do and contribute (TSA agents, police officers, and fire fighters).  I donated blood to the American Red Cross on 9/11 in remembrance.  I fed two teenage boys, friends of my son, and talked to them about their goals for their future.  I paid tolls for cars behind me.  I also paid for drive through food for a car behind me in line.  I volunteered to serve breakfast at an under privileged school and donated to that school for books and supplies.  Each of these acts were recorded in an app on my phone, so that I would ensure to remember them all and tracking to my goal of forty.  Each one brought me an increased level of satisfaction and significance. 

I still have the rock in my car in a compartment in my console.  I hold it sometimes on my way home when I have a rough day.  I think about where I was twenty years ago and how I can be grateful sitting in traffic.  I remember my first random act and the young lady.  I have so much for which to be grateful.  Random acts can be small or large and can be tangible or intangible.  They can be planned or spontaneous.   They can have lasting effects.  Tomorrow, I will tell you the story about my favorite of my forty random act of kindness.  It was one that deeply touched me and gave me a sense of significance. 

Please check back for Day #3 of 40 Random Acts of Kindness tomorrow.

~Christy Brasher, guest blogger