It feels like the world is getting harsher and more isolated, and you can feel the hate, resentment, stress and negativity radiate out of the skin of our fellow human beings. These last few years have really tried us emotionally, physically, psychologically, and taxed every aspect of our lives. How prepared are we to cope in 2024?
As far as humanity and decency, we have indeed lost our way and we need to rediscover the pathway back to our former world.
How do we do this? I have two words—KINDNESS and GRATITUDE.
Kindness doesn’t cost a lot and can be done every day through simple uncomplicated gestures. Whether it be holding open a door, making someone smile by helping in some small way, a charitable word about someone, we can perform acts of random kindness and you might actually like it. How hard is it to say something nice to a perfect stranger? How about saying something nice to a close friend, family member or colleague? How about making a call to arrange a meal with a long lost friend or relative? How about coffee with a co-worker? Bringing in donuts or lunch to the hard-working staff? These are just a few easy ideas to show some semblance of kindness.
Too often these days, we put our heads down, ear plugs in, and we bulldoze or sleep walk through the day. Between staying alive on Amazon deliveries and Door Dash food packages, we have by design and choice, put greater distance between ourselves and the rest of the world. Communication by text and zoom have so desensitized us and have allowed actual and figurative walls to get erected, and remain, as social barriers. This stony silence and isolation isn’t healthy. We should work to reverse the trend of spending time in this social house arrest and we should rejoice at the opportunity to celebrate this thing called life in the flesh with our fellow human beings.
I don’t believe that people are inherently mean spirited, but I do believe we have hardened ourselves because of Covid, politics, rougher economic times, and clashing of generations. Time for gratitude to make an appearance.
Gratitude is a tougher ask, far too many have forgotten for far too long what gratitude looks like, and if we do recognize it, we have a harder time expressing this lost art of an expression.
I resent those who refer to the god ole days with any degree of frequency, but here I find myself harkening back to those days.
I remember when being grateful meant showing gratitude for the smallest of measures. Members of our society now have such elevated expectation of things. It is very common that many of our colleagues simply think that they are part of an entitled class. What are we to do?
We need to be grateful for any small favor or assistance and we need to express this appreciation more readily. Whether we received mentoring from someone, or an individual helped, provided a job, helped solve a problem, or someone simply being available for an issue or just being a good friend, these gifts should be recognized as such and with it some gratitude shown.
We are all on the earth now through the means and assistance of many others and perhaps we need to take some time to recognize those little guardian angels that protected and helped us along the way. In 2024, we should commit ourselves to reflecting inwards and embracing the hard truth that many hands helped push us along our personal and professional paths and we should stop daily to take note and thank some that made it all happen.
The world is at a crazy and unpredictable inflection point and we have little control. However, we do possess certain control – Kindness and Gratitude are well within our reach and we should exercise these gifts daily to help make the world a little nicer.