It’s World Kindness Day today so what have you done today to make you feel proud…..?? (Sorry for the randomness but I used to love Heather Small and when I was teaching, I used to use her music in morning assemblies for inspiration so forgive me my indulgence! 😉)
Do we need a National Day of Kindness? Shouldn’t we be kind throughout the year? Do we really need to be reminded to be nice to each other? It seems such a random thing to have a specific day for but sometimes I think we do need a gentle nudge.
Take for example the men who came to do a job for me levelling the floor last week. Perfectly nice blokes but they were far too fond of their tea breaks for my liking and I was getting very stressed as I wanted it all done so that my day could get back to normal. Was I kind to them? Of course not as I was getting stroppier and stroppier by the minute, I was sat in the kitchen muttering under my breath and giving P some very ‘evil eyes‘ as I was too afraid to say anything but the next time they came into the kitchen, I had a plan. I was going to say something!
I’d been practicing it in my head and of course, in my head it all sounded really good and assertive, polite yet purposeful yet when I tried to say it all out loud when they next appeared, it didn’t all go to plan. (what a surprise…..)
As I grabbed my crutches and tried to stand up and gain some authority, P asked the guys how it was going? “Aye, not too bad love, won’t be long now” was the answer but something in that short sentence held P’s attention. “Where are you from?” he asked, “oh we’re not from round here, we’re from Newport” Well, that was that, as soon as P heard this, he was their new best friend. He’s an old Newport boy himself and they chatted about the ‘old town‘ and how so many things had changed but amazingly, they’d come from just round the corner to where P had been born. (and in the same street where his nursery school tied him to the outside rails at playtime as he was prone to wandering off – another story for another time methinks!😉)
But the whole time I had been muttering about the slow progress of the work and stressing about deadlines, there really could have been a moment where I should’ve been kinder. Chronic pain makes you irritable at the best of times and that day it was really affecting me but that didn’t excuse me being that stroppy. It taught me a lesson that day, the floor was finished on the pre-arranged day and I had no complaints about the work so really, I had nothing to whine about and everything to be happy about.
A kind word, a text or even just a smile – being kind doesn’t cost anything and can mean the world to someone.
So how about…..?
A text to a friend who’s been ill lately?
A phone call to your Mum/Dad/Whoever just to say hello?
A WhatsApp message to a group of old friends to check in and say hi?
An email to an old colleague who’s recently had a baby?
A FaceTime with a friend who’s moved away?
Or maybe just a kind and friendly word to a couple of floor fitters who grew up round the corner to your other half…….?? 🥴
Happy ‘World Kindness Day’ to all my chronic pain and chronic illness buddies and to all of my friends too, may you be kind and have kindness cast upon you all 😘🥰😘
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