By Michele Robert Poche

[title maintitle=”” subtitle=”A 30-Day Challenge”]

It seemed easy enough. Do something nice for someone else, stranger or otherwise, for 30 days straight. Nothing I did was that difficult and everything I did was rewarding. The hardest part was simply remembering to perform an act of kindness every day. It’s easy to get caught up in our lives, to absent-mindedly walk through public places, to buzz hurriedly past someone who may be struggling or hurting. To make random kindness a habit – that was the challenge.

The secret to success is to make this promise to yourself: I will, for 30 days, take a moment out of my schedule to put someone else’s needs ahead of mine, with absolutely nothing expected in return. 

1. Shared a stamp at the post office.
2. Removed a broken bottle in a parking lot.
3. Called my parents just to chat.
4. Visited with a neighbor.
5. Cleaned out closets and donated to charity.
6. Forgave someone.
7. Let a mom and crying baby ahead in the grocery line.
8. Brought in a neighbor’s garbage cans.
9. Sent a thank you note.
10. Brought a treat to friends.
11. Didn’t interrupt for an entire day.
12. Let someone else have the good parking spot.
13. Cared for a friend’s pets.
14. Said “Yes!” when the cashier asked me to donate money.
15. Returned extra grocery carts to the cart stand.
16. Disposed of all of my trash at the movie theater.
17. Answered a phone call I didn’t really want to take.
18. Said a prayer for a friend in poor health.
19. Gave a ride to a neighbor.
20. Helped a stranger with his broken grocery bag.
21. Let someone else win an argument.
22. Patiently listened to my children.
23. Allowed my friend to speak of her problem that is similar to mine.
24. Spoke to three people I see daily but have never met.
25. Donated blood.
26. Complimented a stranger on her children.
27. Stopped to purchase what a child was selling.
28. Let someone be grumpy without fighting back.
29. Apologized with no strings.
30. Congratulated someone for getting something I wanted.

Feel free to use my ideas or create some of your own.
It could be anything. For as Aesop once said, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”