Do Unrecognized Good
They told us in school to be a good person and do the right thing even when no one is watching. While I agreed with this at the time, the older I get the more I love this principle.
It’s so fun to do nice things for others without them knowing about it, like a fairy godmother!✨🎀👗
Here’s one example from Halloween. There was a pumpkin patch nearby and I decided to pick out a pumpkin. I had a $100 bill in my pocket (don’t get any ideas — I don’t usually walk around ballin’ like that! 💰💰💰).
I found the pumpkin I wanted and then went to the checkout. I felt an urge to help out. I asked the cashier if I could pay with the $100 and donate my change to whoever bought the next pumpkins. She said yes! So I paid for my $15 pumpkin and bought a few other families’ pumpkins too.
Essentially this is the Starbucks trick where you pay for the person behind you in line. Now there wasn’t a line so whoever got their pumpkins paid for wouldn’t know who paid for them. That was magical 😎
On top of paying for the pumpkins, I knew that all of the proceeds were going to Habitat for Humanity so it was a double win.
What you can do:
- Pay for someone in line
- Mail a gift to someone anonymously
- Do something special for someone such as cover a new water heater (okay, not that sexy, but highly meaningful), rake their yard, send them on a trip, email them a coupon, call their university and pay off some of their student loans (my favorite thing to do!!)
- Donate to a good cause in someone’s name
- Start a scholarship fund by contacting an organization or school, pick the scholarship name, and make a donation. Viola!
- Send a friend tickets to an event. My aunt bought my mom tickets to her favorite show in Las Vegas without asking and emailed them to my mom. She was so surprised when she opened her inbox! She flew out and had a great time at the show 💃
- All the usual but highly overlooked things — pick up trash, wipe down a table, hang up a fallen piece of clothing
- Make life easier for others and leave things better than you found them
Resources:
*Note: None of these resources are endorsements, just things you can explore on your own
Originally published at https://www.pinkterminal.io on August 29, 2021.
