Haven't heard of the 30 Days of Kindness? Click here to find out more. Just starting? That's okay! Feel free to start this challenge right in the middle. You can make up the days you missed through November, if you like.
Greet a stranger. Say "hi" or "how are you?" or "how has your day been?" to someone you don't know. A complete stranger. I want you to be sure to sound sincere and genuine when you greet this person. Be sure to smile! Make someone feel like you truly care about how they're doing.
This should still be a fairly easy challenge. Greet the cashier at a store. Greet someone when you pass them on the sidewalk. Waiting in line at the bus stop? Start up a conversation. There are billions of people in this world that you do not know. It should be fairly easy to find one of them.
After you're done, share your stories below! If you have a picture or video with the stranger you greeted, feel free to comment with the link and I'll share it on this blog for everyone to see.
Tune in later today to see what my friends and I did for today's act of kindness.
TOMORROW: Compliment a stranger!
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Today, we went to the mall in search for strangers to greet. Ali and I ended up saying hello to twenty people each, which means that we greeted forty people! It was surprisingly awkward and difficult to come out of our shells and speak to someone we didn't know. Most people seemed to be taken aback or even uncomfortable... with a mere "hi!" Several times, my target would look me up and down and walk away without even saying hi in return.
It saddened me that our nation has become so turned off to friendliness that even a mere greeting is taken as offensive or startling. I plan to make it a habit to greet strangers more often. This stiffness needs to end.
Me: So Ali, what did you learn from today?
Ali: It was just kind of different. People aren't used to others saying hi to them, and so sometimes we'd get strange looks, and other times, I would wonder whether someone heard me or not or if they just ignored me! A few times we got "hi"'s back, but most of the time, people just smiled and walked away. It makes me want to change that, and I want to start saying hi to strangers more often and be more friendly. I mean, I consider myself a friendly person already, but this showed me the opposite!
Me: So how do you plan on changing this?
Ali: I plan on smiling and saying hi to people more often and caring for strangers, just by saying hi.
We learned a lot from merely saying hi to strangers. What were your experiences from today?
Emily.....aw....
ReplyDeleteFirst, I'm on SUSIE magaizine, so we've already chatted a bit:)
I've been following your blog for a few weeks, and they are such an encouragement to me! Lately in my life (and especially as a writer) I've been feeling dry...almost dead in a way. But reading your blog, looking at your pictures from your mission trip, its been incredible. Reading someone elses work. Reading about some one else day, it's really given me a lot of perspective. I LOVE what you write, it so real...do you know, when some authors write they're work is detached, and, well, its like a substitute or an imitation of what they truely what to write. Of whats on they're heart. But you're writing is so AUTHENTIC. It's good.
So thank-you,
-Susanna
p.s.
This is totally unedited, so over look all the comma's:)