Put the K in Kind

There are many times God will pull the strings of my heart, as if to say, go, do, NOW!

Whether its to reach out to a certain person on my mind or to go up and speak to someone I don’t know and introduce myself, I often feel these types of urges. A nonverbal whisper telling me to give. I must regretfully say, I don’t always listen.

I respond in one of two ways:

1) K. I hear ya, but nah. (flips hair and continues life).

or

2) K. I’m going now. I’m just going to go for it. (before I get too anxious and let worst case scenarios cross my mind).

Pre-college Anna would ALWAYS say “K, bye.” Other people made me way too shy and nervous; even those who I knew. I would hardly share my feelings and thoughts because I didn’t want to deal with the feeling of being ignored afterwards. I was so concerned with people’s feedback because I was looking to other people to make me feel worthy. This feeling reminds me of a section in the book, Uninvited by Lysa Terkeurst, in which she tells the story of how she used to walk into a room and look around for the people who she hoped would approach her and include her in their conversation. As she grew older, she happened upon a realization that she had it backwards and was missing the point. Everything changes when you walk into a room and look for those who YOU can approach and make feel the gift of inclusion and kindness. I think one of the most kind things you can do for a person is to make them feel seen and understood.

Everyone has a want to be needed and a need to be wanted.

When I woke up today and saw that it is World Kindness Day, I felt inspired to write this post and challenge you to show kindness to someone today instead of wondering how someone else is going to show kindness to you. We all know that yes, World Kindness Day should be everyday, but would we continue to celebrate? Train your tongue and hands to build kindness as a habit. May you enter intimidating situations or rooms full of strangers feeling fully loved and worthy so that you can show others that they are smart, kind, and important. My hope is that each of you will put the K in Kind, the “K, I will go. I will follow. I will show the world kindness.”

-from Anna with love