So I want to follow up to a blog post I did a little over a month ago.  I, along with some other lovely internet people that I don’t really know, committed to a 30 day giving challenge.  Basically the idea was to give for 30 days…give a smile, kind words, a helping hand, just whatever you can give at any moment.  Here’s the actual post if you’d like to read it: CLICK HERE FOR 30 DAY CHALLENGE POST

I’m a pretty nice person in general (anyone that knows me can attest to that, but don’t ask the following 76 people…  j/k) so giving a smile or kind words wasn’t much of a stretch for me.  But I wanted to do the challenge because I wanted to see what it would be like to be aware of the giving rather than just going about my day.  And, I wanted to see if I could give more than I usually do.  Here’s what happened:

The first day was really good.  I smiled more at people and was kinder on the roads.  The second day was more interesting.  There was a guy in his car that was pulled way out from where he was suppose to be.  As I drove by him I gave him a dirty look and threw a hand up in the air meaning WTF!  As soon as I drove past him I realized what I had done.  I felt awful.  Did he really deserve a nasty look & a WTF sign (I didn’t flip him off if that’s what you’re thinking…just you know, a WTF)?  I mean, we all make mistakes, right?  I’m sure there’s been a handful of times that I’ve done that exact thing.  I wanted to turn around and give him a big smile and a “I’m so sorry” wave but I didn’t.  I thought that might be a little weird…he might have even given me a WTF sign then!  HA  I did, however, apologize to him and wish him well in my mind.

A few days later I was taking my little Max to school.  We were driving down the alley and there was a huge trash can in the way.  I decided to drive around it…after all we were running a bit late.  But, as I’m driving around it I’m thinking to myself “I know what I need to do.  I need to move it out of the way.”  I didn’t!  Again, I felt awful.  Luckily, it was still in the middle of the road on my way home from taking him to school so I was able to redeem myself!  (It’s an even better feeling when you give without someone looking.)

I loved doing this.  It’s such a good feeling to make someone’s day and to just be more polite in general.  I gave several spirit jumps (sending a small gift to a cancer patient to lift their spirits), and I always did my best to make the cashier, at Target, Walmart, or wherever I was, to feel better about their jobs (especially if I could tell they were just totally beaten down).  Being aware of what I was giving made me feel a sense of lightness, like everything is good and I’m not weighed down by negativity.  I just felt happier!

On the other side of the giving coin is receiving!  Here’s what I received out of this challenge:

–People were so nice to me on the roads.  I was going first at stop signs, people were waving me in to get in front of them, & I was even given a parking space when we both got to it at the same time!

–My husband took me on a surprise date because he wanted to let me know how much he appreciates me!

–On our date we went to an awesome sushi restaurant (Kenichi) and our entire bill was comped!

But…most importantly,

–I felt good.  I felt happier.  Period.

If you have stories on giving & receiving I’d love to hear them.  If you took the challenge with me, what did you experience?  Make a comment.

Now, let’s go out and keep giving…what have you to lose?

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Tags: Awareness, challenge, feeling good, Giving, happy, Receiving

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