Be Kind: You never know the impact you may have on even the smallest of interactions!!!

My son has asked me why I am nice to everyone, everywhere we go. I like to make people smile when I am in their presence. I have made it a daily goal to make at least one person smile even if I am not having a very good day myself. I smile at everyone who passes me or interacts someway with me. Most of the time I also say "hi" or "good morning/afternoon", while I hold open a door or just walk by someone in the store. I try to use the name of the service person helping me at checkout. I ask them how they are and tell them to have a great rest of their day as our interaction comes to its end. Even when they start out being rude or snappy with me, I keep smiling with my cheery attitude and do not take it personally because maybe the customer before me was rude to them, maybe they are stressing about paying their bills, maybe some other personal distress is weighing heavily on them. I have actually felt and watched their demeanor change once I continue to be extremely nice, since they just became a bigger challenge for me to get to smile. I have been told that even while wearing a mask, my smile lights up the room.

No matter how much in my life is going wrong or how rough I think my life is, I know that there is someone out there that has it way worse than I do. There is no way to know who is going through a tough time, or where to find them or even how to help them. I do believe in "Paying it Forward" though so when I do random acts of kindness, I just hope that the person I help, helps someone else. Things that I have done are leaving envelopes of cash on the baby formula shelf at Walmart, paying for the persons groceries that is in front or behind me, filling up the gas tank of a stranger, given food/drinks to homeless people standing on the side of the road, donating to the Food Bank of Iowa, donating clothes/blankets/hygiene products to homeless shelters, and the list will continue for as long as I am able.

So, smile and use kind words because they are free to give away and you could make someone's day better with those simple gestures. This world has enough darkness and evilness, so let us spread more love and light.