To begin my kindness countdown, I started by complimenting six different people. The goal was to compliment six strangers, but as I began it was much harder than I thought it would be. Complimenting people is not difficult, but I thought I did it much more frequently than I do. As the week progressed, I realized I am not as observant as I initially thought I was.
The week began and I had submitted a proposal for my project where I indicated my interest in completing a series of challenges to encourage me to become more kind. My professor immediately approved my project, but two days passed, and I had still not complimented a single person and had hardly even noticed the people around me. On day three I was shopping at the mall and I complimented a stranger’s outfit and a cashier’s nails. The cashier did not even acknowledge my comment, but I tried not to be discouraged.
I was a little more nervous after that encounter, so my next compliments were to people who were more in my comfort zone. I complimented my new co-worker and a friend of my mom. I also complimented a lady at my church who performed a beautiful solo. I had only spoken to her several times before, but her performance almost brought me to tears, so I went up after the service to speak with her.
Of all my experiences this week, my most memorable was comforting a stressed-out McDonald’s employee who was struggling to survive a busy shift when the restaurant was understaffed. I had been coming home from work myself. One of my coworkers didn’t show up to work, so I ended up having to stay forty minutes later than I was scheduled to. The only thing open by the time I was leaving work was McDonalds. I pulled into the drive-through to order, but the line-up was very long. Another car pulled in behind me, so I was trapped and forced to wait. By the time I got to the window I was frustrated, hungry, tired, and just wanted to be at home. However, I took one look at the worker’s panicked face and realized it probably mirrored my own expression less than an hour prior. She opened the window and apologized profusely saying it was only her and her manager scheduled because some of her co-workers didn’t show up to work that night. I told her that I had just experienced the same thing myself so that she could take as long as she needed to. I also tried to encourage her by saying she was doing a really good job working under pressure and wished her a good night.
Although it was difficult initially to get into the spirit of being aware and appreciating the people around me, it paid off in the end. I felt more connected to people and found myself trying to see things from other peoples’ perspective. I realized we are all stumbling through life blindly, so sometimes something as simple as a compliment is enough to comfort someone else. I also learned that even if not everyone appreciates your positivity, to not be discouraged because there could be someone ahead who really needs it.
The Kindness Countdown 