There’s a lot going on. There’s a pandemic, racial tensions, and a presidential election. With all of the added chaos, opinions are louder than ever and public encouragement is scarce. People are thrown into generalizations: liberal, conservative, masker, anti-masker, etc. Sometimes it seems we forget who the person is outside of their political, cultural, or religious beliefs. So let me preface this blog post with this: in order to be encouraging in 2020, you must be willing and able to look beyond that person’s personal beliefs and view them for who they are- a person worthy of love and kindness. Now that we have that established, let us continue to the meat of this post which is dedicated to how to practically encourage others in 2020.
Hear me out, the intention of this post is not to encourage being fake or acting like you are happy when you are not. This is not about putting up a front or creating an image. Rather, the hope is that it would both remind us that everyone is struggling and inspire us to be the change in the world that we want to see.
In an era of toxicity, isolation, and serious controversy, we have the opportunity to choose to be beacons of light, kindness, and love.
So what are some practical ways that you can encourage others right now?
- Write a letter(SNAIL MAIL) and affirm them
- Cashapp or Venmo someone $5 to spend just on themselves
- Invite someone over for dessert on your porch
- Post something that can only inspire a smile(pet pictures, funny memes that are non political)
- When a friend posts something controversial, ask to hear more and actually listen to their perspective without prepping a rebuttle
- Marco Polo your friend that you miss them!
- Work overtime to surprise your significant other with a clean house and a fancy dinner
- Call your local nursing home and talk on the phone with residents
- Ask retail workers, servers how they are doing and tip well
- Shoot your friend a text message or FB message starting with, “I appreciate how you…”
- Make someone a care package from the Dollar Tree and drop it off on their front doorstep or UPS it!
- Write your mail man(or woman) a thank you note and attach cookies
- Make your friend a playlist on Spotify and share it with them
- Surprise your boss, pastor, or mentor with a $5 gift card in their mailbox
- Offer to do yard work for your friend or neighbor for F R E E
- Start a book club and have a monthly Zoom or porch meeting
- When checking out at the grocery store, thank the cashier for their hard work
- On your preferred social media do a 7 day gratitude challenge, each day post a picture of something you are thankful for
- Surprise your significant other with flowers or their favorite coffee and attach a little note reminding them how special they are
- Instead of making inflammatory comments when you know someone holds a differing opinion, acknowledge who they are outside of your disagreement
Let me know if you enjoyed reading this, thanks!
living rescue 