To celebrate my upcoming 40th birthday, I decided to follow an idea I came across a couple of years. Since this is a milestone birthday, I wanted to do something extra special. But this isn't just something special for me. I want to spread the joy of life to other people as well!
The idea is to do 40 random acts of kindness for the rest of the year. I asked my Facebook friends for suggestions on what to do. They came up with some great ideas I had not considered. The simplest is one I've done before: buy the meal for the car behind you in the drive-through line at a restaurant. The most complicated was a doozy: get 40 friends to agree to cook 40 Thanksgiving meals for 40 families. I still count on my mom or grandmother to lead the way when cooking for Thanksgiving, so I'm not sure that's in my wheelhouse.
There were plenty of ideas that are doable. Here are a few:
1. Collect books for dialysis patients to read while they get treatment.
2. Visit the nursing home.
3. Invite someone to a meeting.
4. Bake cookies for friends and neighbors.
5. Take a meal to a new mom.
6. Make care packages for cancer patients receiving chemo.
7. Ask a friend how they are doing and actually listen.
This past Friday night I did my first random act of birthday kindness. I invited a bunch of single friends to join me for bowling. As a surprise, I paid for 2-hours of bowling for all my friends who attended that night.
Maybe that doesn't seem very random. But these are the people who are there to pick me up when the chips are down. Seems like such a little thing to do for friends who have been so good to me.
What are some ideas you have for random acts of kindness?
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