Guest Post¦ Kindness. It’s everywhere. You can take your pick from the ‘Be Kind’ movement, random acts of kindness, or even ‘World Kindness Day’, which takes place each year on 13 November.
You probably aren’t surprised there’s an actual day for being kind, what with there being a ‘day’ for everything. For example, there’s an International Carrot Day (4 April), ‘Wear a Hat Day’ (the date for this changes, but this year (2022) it’s on 25 March) and a ‘National Black Cat Day’ (which is on 27 October for those of you owned by mini panthers).
We can all do our bit to be kind – whether it’s simply letting someone go in front of us in the supermarket queue (unless they have a huge trolley full of groceries, obvs. We all have our limits!) or sending a message of support to someone you know who’s feeling a bit down.
What else we can do to spread kindness depends on our situations to a certain extent. A stay at home mum could be kind by extending the hand of friendship to another local mum (maybe by inviting her to a baby show) and someone who works near their neighbour could offer them a lift to work instead of leaving them shivering at the bus stop.
As for the younger generation, here are three ways students can spread kindness.
Invite someone out
Starting university is hard. For most students, it’s their first time living away from home and being independent. They’re in a new town, living in student accommodation and surrounded by strangers.
Making new friends at university can be easy but less so if you’re shy and introverted.
With that in mind, if you see someone looking a bit lost and lonely, strike up a conversation and invite them out somewhere. You don’t have to be their best friend for life if it turns out you don’t really have anything in common other than being at the same university, but that kind invitation could really help them to feel less lonely and bewildered.
Tell your tutor you enjoyed their seminar or lecture
I’m going to assume your parents taught you manners and you always say, ‘Thank you’ to your tutor as you leave the room after a seminar or lecture. Could you go a bit further than the usual pleasantries though?
How about taking a moment to go up to your tutor afterwards and mention something you particularly enjoyed or found interesting they’d just talked about? Tutors love it when their students are interactive and actively finding their seminars enjoyable.
Do a friend, coursemate or housemate a favour
The scope to be kind by doing someone a favour is huge. It could be anything from doing the washing up for one of your housemates – even though it’s their turn on the rota – going to the library or supermarket for a friend, lending a coursemate your notes after a seminar they missed or lending a friend a tenner when they’re skint so they can get a round in in ‘Spoons.
Spreading kindness
Spreading kindness is not only beneficial to the receiver of the kindness. When we’re kind to others, we feel good about ourselves too.
Even the smallest act of kindness can be enough to change someone’s life, so why not spread a bit of kindness today?
Disclosure: This is a guest post with Every Student.