Tag Archives: pay it forward

Pay it Forward Friday

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Not only did I miss a Pay it Forward Friday post last week, but I’ve missed most of my other posts, too. I’ve been pretty distracted with trying to establish a new routine over the past two weeks, as we have a new arrival in our home. No, it is most certainly not a baby, this 40+ woman decided long ago that wasn’t going to happen on my watch. This is a baby of other sorts – meet Gertie, our new rescue mutt:

gertie

She’s an absolute love and a  joy to have in our home, although we are all still working on settling in, including the cat. The truth is that a sense of normalcy may not return for a few weeks as this girl had to undergo heartworm treatment, and she’s under restrictions to stay very calm for a least a month. I’m looking forward to the day that when we can let her run in the yard, take her for walks, and let her burn off energy at doggy daycare.

I’m hoping to get back on track and have a solid go at writing again soon, I had only barely scratched the surface as it was. While I know this isn’t my typical Pay it Forward Friday post, I still encourage you to take this Friday and think about doing something nice for someone else in this world. There has been so much unrest recently, some of which hit a little too close to home for me in Charlotte this week, and I look forward to turning that around in some small way in my community today. I hope that you can do the same.

Pay it Forward Friday

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homeless-1261555_640While watching the Carolina Panthers game last night, I was reminded of this ESPN article about our beloved Cam Newton (I know, some of you aren’t fans, but haters gonna hate) leaving a restaurant with his teammates towing a full meal in hand and delivering it to a homeless man on the streets of Baltimore a few weeks ago. My husband and I both take opportunities to help the homeless, whether it be buying someone on the street a meal, or giving them a few dollars, or through donating needed items to a local shelter.

I realize that maybe not everyone you see standing on the street corner holding a sign is legitimately in need, and if I hand a person $5 and he/she chooses to use that for something other than a meal, then so be it, but it’s the chance I’m willing to take. Not so long ago, I gave a man holding a sign proclaiming that he was hungry a few dollars and, after spending about 10 minutes at a location in the general vicinity, I spotted him walking out of a Chick-Fil-A with a sack of food. I’ll never forget that moment. In fact, there are a number of moments where I’ve reached out to help the homeless that will always stick with me, all for very positive reasons.


We are all just people making our way together on this same planet, after all.

 

Sure, the homeless are easy to ignore, it’s common for people to turn the other way and avoid them, but have you ever stopped to think that this could be you standing on that street corner holding a sign? We don’t know their stories, but I’m sure you’ve heard of folks who’ve seemingly had it all and then lost it for various reasons – whether controllable or not. While the possibility may be unlikely, in my opinion, any one of us could find ourselves in a situation that leads to being on the streets at some point in our lives. I always keep this in mind, and if I don’t have anything to offer someone I pass on the street or while I’m sitting in my car, I at least offer up a smile and a head nod – something to at least acknowledge their presence. We are all just people making our way together on this same planet, after all.

For this Pay it Forward Friday, I encourage you to reach out to the homeless in some way today, even if it is through a local shelter or organization. So many shelters are looking for simple items such as soap, socks, and towels, a quick stop at local store to pick up goods won’t take much out of your pocket, but it will mean so much to the folks in need.

Pay it Forward Friday

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Well folks, it’s that time again. My weekly reminder to take a moment out of your day to do something nice and unexpected for someone else. While it’s your choice on what to do today (or any day, or every day), maybe think about reaching out to someone you haven’t talked to in a while just to tell them you love them. You will most certainly bring a smile to their face.

In the event that you are looking for a little inspiration today, here’s 52 ways to tell someone you love them.

Happy Friday!

 

Pay it Forward Friday

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AFloral1

Back in March, I wrote briefly about why I do these pay it forward Fridays, and as I work to create some organization to this blog of mine, I’ve decided to make it a regular theme each Friday. I don’t expect to always give the details of exactly what I choose to do on this day, although sometimes I might, but the goal is to spark the idea in the hopes that maybe someone who reads this might also choose to perform some random act of kindness as a result of stopping by my little corner of the internet.

For today, I have some thoughts running around my head on how I will take this on, and it mostly involves surprising a friend with something unexpected. I rarely see her since she moved to another state, but she has caught me by surprise on several occasions with completely random acts of kindness, and the joy that she gave still sticks with me even months and years later. My goal today is to grace her with that same feeling, and I think I know just how to do it.

Today, I direct you to Kindspring, which is a great spot to sift through hundreds of random acts of kindness ideas in a quick and easy format, some of which are so simple that it really is a no-brainer. What will you do on this pay it forward Friday?

 

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Off Weeks and Small Victories

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Sometimes you just have an off week, and this has been one of mine. It started with travel days, which can sometimes be tough for me to keep on solid track with my fitness goals. After two days of flying and lots of time being cooped up behind the wheel, I returned home to some pretty high stress situations to deal with at the office. Not only did I turn to alcohol for a relaxant as noted in my previous post, my eating was not exactly spot on. I tried to power through the workouts this week, and while I stuck with it, I just couldn’t quite push myself as hard as I had been. My energy level was just zapped. By last night, my body felt terrible – a muscle spasm had come on in my upper back and left me feeling just completely wiped out and achy. I used to suffer from these pretty extensively – mostly stress related – and it’s been almost a year since this reared its ugly head. They can be extremely debilitating for me, but fortunately this one is mellow enough that I should be able to get control if I am careful.

I have to listen to my body when this happens so I took it very easy when I got home last night, and even enjoyed a long, hot bath and went to bed early. I will admit, I poured myself a small glass of red wine to take to the tub with me – almost out of habit. I raised the glass with thoughts of this beautiful liquid easing my muscles and sending me into a gentle sleep, but the moment it reached my lips I was quickly faced with thoughts of how disappointed I was going to feel with myself in the morning. Remember the goals? Remember breaking the cycle? I set it back down and later it met the drain. Chamomile tea took its place. Victory.

ResetWith such an off week, it’s no wonder that I started feeling so lousy. I know myself well enough to know that I have to stay steps ahead of the stress, otherwise it will get the best of me. I didn’t treat myself right this week, I almost feel as though I just neglected myself altogether in so many ways. Today I will rest. Today I will focus on my well-being. Even thought it isn’t a scheduled rest day, I am listening to my body and will take this opportunity to reset. Off weeks happen, it just means that I can make next week so much better.

On a side note, I love Fridays for so many reasons, but today is also my Pay it Forward Friday. I love waking up thinking about what I’ll do to make someone smile today. I haven’t come up with my plan yet, but I look forward to figuring out. I encourage you to go out and do something nice for someone – a friend or a completely stranger, but something random and unexpected. It feels good to know that you’ve made a difference in someone’s life, even in just a small way.

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