Last week was a hard week for me. It seemed like a lot of things all hit at once and I struggled a little bit. One of the nights I just wanted out of the house and wanted something to do, but no one seemed wanted to do anything or they had other plans. Instead of sitting in my house bored out of my mind I went for a drive, blasted my music and did a lot of thinking. As I was pulling back up to my house the thought crossed my mind "you're happier when you're volunteering or doing things for others."
In Utah I had a lot of opportunities to volunteer and I loved every second of every one of them. Every year I would take a day off of work and help out at the Special Olympics, I would volunteer at a place called Friday's Kids where I was able to play with special needs kids for a few hours while their parents went on dates or got things done, on Sunday nights I would go to a home where I was able to play basketball, duck duck goose and any other game you can imagine with special needs adults, and then all the little things when something would pop into my head. It was always said to the volunteers that we were helping out and making the kids/adults happy, but in reality it was really the kids/adults that were helping and making me happy. In those moments I was the most smiley, cheerful, happy person you had ever met.
When I got home after my drive I looked on the Internet for opportunities to volunteer in my area. I found a few different things that will work with my work schedule and I'm so excited for the first time I'm able to go volunteer. As I was reading over a few of them the thought came to my mind that "I hope one day that I'm able to be a stay at home mom and my children and I can go do these things together." I would love to someday be able to volunteer more during the day or even more hours when I'm not having to be at work all day everyday.
Today I went to lunch at Cafe Rio and as I was standing in line all I could think about was how slow they were being and how hungry I was. Right as I was about to get my food and rush back to work two LA County Sheriffs got in line behind me. The guy behind the counter asked them how Lakewood was doing and the response of one of the Sheriffs got my attention and made me laugh. I just looked at these two men and realized that volunteering is great, but its also the little things that we do and we can do them every day. I went up to the cash register paid for my meal, paid for the two officers meals and ran out of the restaurant like I had guns pointed at me or something. I was trying to be sly, but I'm pretty sure I just made it worse by how fast I wanted to get out of there :)
So, what's the point here? As I’ve
had a lot of time to think lately, I’m going to try and have a Pay it Forward
day EVERYDAY. These things don't have to be as big as paying for someones lunch every day (I might go broke if I did that Ü). It can be leaving a nice note for someone, making
breakfast in bed for your significant other, putting a flower in your neighbor’s
newspaper and leaving it on their doorstep, anything to make someone feel special
and let them know they are being thought of. This can be for a stranger or for
someone who is important to you. In
paying it forward not only are you giving a gift to others, but you're giving yourself a gift as well.
"Be the change you want to see in the world." ~Gandhi
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