Since the beginning of this madness, I started planning to
commit 12 random acts of kindness to strangers. At first this was harder than I
thought it would be as I had trouble thinking of things that would be easier
enough to do, wouldn’t cost a fortune and wouldn’t make me look like a loon! I
did a bit of research to get a few ideas and a number of things actually just
happened without any planning that I counted as part of this. The non planned
acts were much easier and most of the time I didn’t think about it qualifying
until after they happened.
It was surprisingly hard at times to carry out the acts of
kindness if they were pre-planned. Strangers were generally quite suspicious of
me and I also got really shy and embarrassed trying to carry them out for some
odd reason! For example with Kindness 10, I kept dropping a £5 note and
offering it to people and the person would be so honest and say ‘No I didn’t
drop it, you keep it!’ after the third attempt at this I gave up that day and
tried again another day which went much more smoothly.
So I ended up doing 15 acts of kindness, as I didn’t feel
some were big enough, so the final list was:
Kindness 1 – Paid for a
cup of coffee and slice of cake for a stranger in a café (£3.50). Paid for a
coffee for a stranger in the queue behind me in Starbucks (£3)
Kindness 2 – Bought a pack
of Minstrels in a vending machine and left it in the bottom of the machine for
a stranger to find. (60p) – I did do
this a couple of times as I loved it and it would totally make my day if I
found free chocolate!
Kindness 3 – Left a £1 in
a locker in the leisure centre for a stranger to find. (£1)
Kindness 4 – Bought a £1
scratch card and gave it to a stranger (£1)
Kindness 5 – Gave a drink
to a child whose Mum had forgotten to bring him one at a gymnastics class
(£1.20)
Kindness 6 –Picked up
someone else’s dog poo with my poo bag as the owner had forgotten their own
bags. (Free)
Kindness 7 – Carried a
strangers heavy bags to her car as she was struggling as she was on crutches.
(Free)
Kindness 8 –Created a
‘Free Box’ full of unwanted CDs, DVDs, books, jewellery and odd bits and put it
on a bench in the park behind my house for a couple of hours a couple of days.
Strangers were then able to take anything they fancied to keep for themselves.
(Free)
Kindness 9 – Managed to
find some great seats in the pub to watch England v France 6 Nations Rugby
game, then saw an older couple about to stand to watch, so we offered the seats
to this couple and stood throughout the game ourselves. (Free)
Kindness 10 – Dropped a £5
note accidently on purpose on the floor then offered it to an old couple and
said that they must have dropped it. (£5)
Kindness 11 – When out for
a meal in a large group the bill came and we were undercharged for 2 bottles of
wine. Although most of us were very tempted to ignore it, I and few others felt
uncomfortable not admitting to it, as it was a small local family business. So
a couple of us paid extra to cover the bottles of wine as a very large tip
coming up with the perfect compromise.
Kindness 12– After hearing
screams from the park behind my house, as I was having a cup of tea in the
house, I ran into the park to help a stranger who was in trouble. Her cocker
spaniel dog was being attacked by a Staffordshire Bull Terrier type dog. The
Staffie had its jaws clamped around the neck of the cocker spaniel, who was
being held by the owner screaming. I dived into the muddy bog to help, I
managed to get my own hands in the jaw of the Staffie and with the help of two
other passersby and a milk man who also came running when he heard the screams,
we somehow managed to get the dog to free its grip around the spaniel’s neck. I
then managed to get the Cocker Spaniel and the owner to my house, and gave them
both first aid and get emergency help for the dog. The stranger and Daisy the
dog turned out to live in my street. I’m pleased to say after two operations,
10 year old Daisy made a full recovery and her owner was treated for shock and
also recovered quickly. Amazingly none of the humans were injured in the rescue
and I have made a new friend with one of my neighbours. (Free)
Kindness 13 – Took a photo
for some tourists. (Free)
Kindness 14 - I talked to
a lonely older chap when I was supposed to be rushing to do something else.
(Free)
Kindness 15 - I spent the day giving way whilst driving and
offering all motorists the chance to go in front of me or pull out etc. (Free)
I loved doing this challenge and although it didn’t cost me
much, each and every act made me smile and really cheered up my day! I
especially loved it when it rubbed off on my children and they kept thinking of
things they would like to leave in the free box and my son told me that he had
left a trail of sweets for another child to find! It made me put down my phone
and look around and take notice of strangers and the people around me everyday.
Just smiling and acknowledging people more has really changed my outlook on the
day.
Even though the challenge was to complete 12 acts, I wish I
had set 40 acts of kindness in a way, but unlike some challenges that I will
never want to attempt again, this one I will definitely carry on looking for
opportunities I have totally got the bug now and want to continue to look for
more opportunities to brighten up my and a strangers day!
