For the past 7 weeks I have been part of the kindness challenge. This challenge was an eye opener for me. It made me explore the ways that I give myself kindness throughout my days along with observing the kindness that is going on around me. I have realized that I definitely need to try and be more kind to myself. Especially being a mom and with all the mom shaming that is out there on social media. We have to remember that everyone we see on social media are showing just the highlights of their lives and that not everything is perfect all the time. And as we go about our days we have to allow ourselves to make mistakes and allow for the messiness of life all while being kind to ourselves. This is how we learn and grow. I have also realized that I need to be more kind when parenting my son. Along with being aware that he is watching everything I am doing.
I have also learned that if you really look for the simple things and the kindness of others that it is out there every day. Always being focused on grand gestures of kindness is not always a good thing. A lot of times it is the simple things that can brighten someones day and make things just a little bit better for them. I continue to try and do little things when I am out and about for people. Sometimes it is a simple as smiling and asking how someones day is going. I am hoping that Ray will see this and learn by example. He is such a little helper already and I am trying to allow him more chances to help me out at home so that when he is not with me he will continue to want to help others that are in need. Sometimes this is tough because with a toddler they tend to make simple tasks take a lot longer but if we allow them to do the little things at home it will just become second nature as they get older.
This past week I have also really seen the kindness in people after my parents experience a life changing flood. (See my post on keeping hope after a flood here). So many people have come together to help them out whether it be helping them empty buildings out, finding room to store the cars, or just simply bring them food to eat throughout the day. People have donated their time to help as much as they can and those that were too far away called to just let them know that they were thinking about them. My dad was even getting calls from friends and car guys that he has not really talked to in years. Just the way our community has come together to help anyone that was negatively affected by this flood is amazing to see. I even took the opportunity to have Ray help by giving some of his toys to a little boy that lost all of his when their entire house got flooded. I love seeing the way people tend to come together during difficult times to help one another and spread kindness in the hopes that things will get better.
This was such a good challenge and was perfect in keeping you mindful of how you were personally acting toward others every day. Hopefully we will all be able to continue to spread kindness to others each day!
Dramastically Imperfect 