Pay it Forward

Goodbye 2020! Pfffffffft, so we thought.

Where did the time go? Are we really here in 2021? So you are telling me that 365 days flew by, just like that? That means that 8,760 hours, per person mind you, vanished, just like that. Fact is, we are here. Fact is, the year 2020 swept right under our feet, as hatred, ignorance, fear, and vengeance distracted a lot of us from the greater good. Fact is, those series of events turned many bitter and angry. And fact is, they have separated humanity even further apart from each other.

How? How did this even happen? It feels like yesterday was February 20, 2020, which would of been lovely by the way, as I would of had another year before hitting 30! Anyways, I am still trying to wrap my head around all of this. Do I feel lost because I have been caught up in my own personal madness? Or am I just confused from observing all of the chaos around me?

It seems like 2020 left behind a lot of negativity. That negativity hid the joys one once had. On a personal aspect, I sure as hell experienced a lot of it. It even got to the point where I carried it with me professionally. Negative Nancy owned that year. But not this year, hunny. There is the door. Now, get the hell out.

I have tried my best to remind myself of the blessings I have in life. In fact, I still try! It was not until towards the end of 2020, when I had decided to illuminate more positivity, hoping that it could disseminate faster than the virus many have been fearing, and hoping that it may blind people from the negativity instead. Times like these make me think of how quickly negativity can make it easy to forget the simple yet positive things in life; a kind hearted stranger’s smile, those cute puppy eyes any animal can give you really, the soft chuckle of a loved one, that amazing stretch in bed first thing in the morning. So many more simple things, forgotten, just like that.

Let me share with you an example. I was driving to work one morning. I was on auto-pilot and thinking about the sadness and anger I was dealing with, not to mention being empathetic to those who were dealing with worse. There is a Starbucks near where I work. Yes, I love Starbucks. Moving on now. So, I had ordered my usual and proceeded to drive up to the window to pay. The lady had automatically handed me my order, which I had found odd, because you pay first. That IS how drive-thrus work, right? You pay first, THEN, you receive your order. And so I brushed it off and proceeded to pay. Before I could even get my hand out of my window, she told me that the lady who was ahead of me had paid for me. Now this, this threw me all the way off.

What’s the big deal? Right? It seems like it should of not been a big deal at all. I mean, my order was not even ten bucks. But to me, it was in fact, a big deal. Why? Because I had been so distracted by the chaos, by the disruption and the violence, that I had all of a sudden completely forgotten what kindness even looked like, even if it were just for a brief moment. In not even a snap of a finger, had I immediately realized what this kind stranger had done. And at the end of it all, I could not help but smile.

I instantly started to remember all of those random acts of kindness I had personally experienced, whether I had acted upon them, whether I was on the receiving end, or whether I had even witnessed it being done between people I did not even know. My point with all of this, is that it only takes that random and simple act of kindness, to remind people that hey, despite everything going on right now, there is still good in the world, and there are still good people in the world.

As for you reading this, I challenge you to pay it forward, to do a random act of kindness to someone. I challenge you to bring that “trend” back. And when you do, really pay attention to how you have just affected that individual or those individuals. Now, do this act of kindness from the heart. Do it because you want to. Do it because you know that this person or these people can use a smile, a laugh, a sign of relief. One thing I have learned, is that when you do something like that from the heart, the outcome is so much more rewarding.

I think it is safe to say that the negativity from 2020 has been dragged into this new year long enough. And I think it is safe to say that humanity needs to be pulled closer again. And I know that you know, that all it takes is just to remind others of those simple yet beautiful things.