I've been thinking lately. All too often we let the frustrations of life take over and inevitably our grumpiness rubs off on others around us. We road rage, our tempers flare and we say smug shit for no real reason other than misery loves company. This has a pretty contagious effect, and it's pretty easy to set someone off on a shitty rest of their day with a few choice words and then they're more likely to say something to piss someone else off and so on and so forth until the whole world is winding up for a big "fuck you, brah"
For the past few weeks, I've been trying to go out of my way to be nice to people everyday in some way or another each day. There's no limit to the things you can do for people and it doesn't need to be big. Examples? A random compliment or holding the door for a stranger, giving something you like to someone who needs it more than you and maybe going out of your way to hang out with perhaps an old family member when you could be doing something more exciting- all examples of doing things to make peoples' days around you better. It could be donating clothes to SalArmy, it could be taking time to help a grom in the park work on nailing something, it could be just saying something nice to the girl at the bank or a kid at school, it could be surprising your gf with something sweet, it could be a randomly giving a small gift or kind words to someone who could use them that you don't even know, it could also be stopping to help a stranger change a flat instead of driving by. Literally anything that sets your needs to the side for the benefit of someone else counts, even if just for a moment. After all, it's the thought that counts.
Now sure it's a great sentiment but the purpose of this thread is to give people a reason or the idea to really TRY to be awesome to the people around them. A challenge, if you will. A friendly competition of sorts to see who can be the most awesome for no real reason at all other than the interest of investing in the happiness of those nearby. I promise you, when you actually try to project that happy vibe, it has an immediate effect on both parties and has improved my general mood immensely day to day. So try it!
To start things off on the right foot, I'm giving away some stuff to people who give it a go and make somebody smile simply because they have the power to. So post up! What did you do recently for someone else? Anybody who makes it on the first week of this thread with unnecessary good deeds (not "I peed in her butt") is in the running to win one of these three modest prizes. Extra points for creativity of course.
1). These sweet Jagermeister wayfarer-style shades
2). A big-ass sticker pack (around a dozen)
3). A bar of universal wax and a scraper
It's not much, but I have a feeling once people see how good it feels to be awesome to people on the reg just to do it and share the feeling it gave you with others, it will catch on fast. It is pretty addictive I must say. I have other bigger/cooler items sitting around I'm considering just giving away instead of selling, but I want to see how this pans out first. After all, it's never too late to start being considerate and friendly, and it's probably the best way to deny a shitty day too. I believe in you NS, so show me what you're made of!
I'll start: the other day on the way to work over the downtown bridge, I saw a homeless guy with a sign asking for work and shivering in a flannel on the median so I gave him my old puffy coat out of the backseat. Dude was stoked!
Also I called the Ma Dukes just to say hi and talk for a while because she loves that even though I hate talking on the phone in general slightly less than a root canal and she knows it.
I went and hung out with my grandma even though I'm not sure she knows who I am anymore. Even if she only rememmbers me for ten minutes as "that nice boy" it was still worth it imo.
Also I just gave some free ski passes to a friend who I know can't afford to ski otherwise. He was amped up for sure.
So whatcha got NS?