Did you know it was World Kindness Day on Friday the 13th of November?  Did you get a RAOK or more importantly, did you give one? For those of you who have been RAOK’ED before, you will know what a RAOK is because it fills you with that warm fuzzy feeling of happiness inside, that radiates throughout your entire body and makes you feel special and appreciated.  However, for those of you who do not know what a RAOK is, it means a ‘Random Act of Kindness’.

These RAOKs can be as small as paying a compliment to someone, leaving a positive note on someone’s desk or as grand as giving someone a place to stay for the night or buying groceries for someone.  There are countless random acts of kindness that can be done to brighten up someone’s day and they do not always require you to spend a penny because the truth is, it costs nothing to be kind.  Covid19 is consuming us, so let’s start a positive movement of kindness.

There are many types of RAOK’s you can do at home, in the community or even for the planet. At home you could do the laundry or pick up the dog poop/ walk the dog without being asked. What about leaving a sweet thank you note to your parents or guardians, thanking them for everything they do?  How about washing the dishes or making someone at home a snack?  All these acts take such little effort yet go such a long way to making someone feel special.  In the community you could send flowers to a neighbour ‘just because’ or pick up the litter and tidy the communal waste bin on a stroll.  For the planet you could do meat-free Mondays, try to avoid, or reduce single use plastics or maybe just walk more.  Being kind to each other is super basic but super important because it is what makes us be kind in return.

Now the ideas for RAOK’s goes on and on but what you should take from this article is that for every little bit of generosity or kindness you get, give a little back and pay it forward, because without kindness where would we all be?

Of course, a RAOK does take time out of our busy hectic lives, but one genuine act of kindness can make someone’s day ten times better and as Aesop famously once said, “no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” This is especially true now as we are in such unprecedented times, living with a global pandemic and so much economic uncertainty, so we need to be extra kind to each other and leave a glitter trail of RAOK’s everywhere we go because kindness truly is contagious. Please remember though, when doing a RAOK, be safe and follow social distancing guidelines because although kindness is contagious, Covid is too.

Kindness if free, sprinkle it everywhere.