Spreading Kindness: One Momma To Another

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I’ve been feeling frustrated lately with all the negativity surrounding me. Given the state of our country and the world, it is easy to focus on the negative. I was inspired to go back to a post I wrote almost two years ago on kindness. I’ve thought deeply about how I treat others and, perhaps, how I can be better at sharing kindness myself.

I think it’s amazing the small things you can do every day to impact others. It could be something small like letting someone out into traffic or collecting someone’s cart at the grocery store. Oftentimes, we now keep our heads down and try to close out the outside world, not necessarily because we are selfish, but because we are consumed with other things.

I had an awesome experience just a few days ago in my pharmacy. An elderly couple came in to get a vaccination for the husband. After processing through their insurance, the cost was still over $180 out-of-pocket. I went out into the waiting room to talk with them. Of course, they were not prepared to pay and after discussing, I told them I could keep the prescription on file if they wanted to come back another day.

After I finished talking with the elderly couple, a young woman approached the counter and asked if she and her husband could pay the patient’s co-pay for them. She had overheard my discussion with the couple as she, her husband, and their young son were waiting for their prescriptions to be filled. They were willing to pay the $180 for the patient, but they wanted to do so without the couple knowing.

Not only was I impressed by the magnitude of reaching out to help someone in need, but I saw how this one kind act resonated with my fellow staff in the pharmacy that day. It was refreshing to see others reach out and extend a hand of assistance — it restores my faith in humanity.

It also challenges me to go out and make a difference, even if it is small. Perhaps we can’t shell out $180 to every person we encounter, but kindness and giving can be more than monetary. Kindness can actually be free.

So how can we spread kindness?

I am challenging myself to start small . . . attempt to consciously do two kind acts per day. As mommas, we experience incredible highs and incredible lows, and I like to think a good place to start is helping another momma out.

Don’t know where to start? You could consider:

  • Return a fellow mom’s cart at the grocery store for her.
  • Let someone in front of you in the car line at school in the morning.
  • Watch another mom’s kids for an hour or help fold their laundry.
  • Stop at the grocery store to pick up something they need.
  • Bring them Starbucks (it’s certainly not free – but mommas run on caffeine).

“No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.” — Amelia Earhart

What is a kind act someone did for you recently?