The Pay it Forward Challenge – Link Is Up
| September 13, 2011 | Posted by Kelly K @ Writing w/ Chaos under Link |
Monday I posted this challenge on my Dances with Chaos blog (it explains why there). The link is live through September 23rd and you can add your post of how you didn’t let the Darkside win this week. Please pass on the word so as many people as possible participate.
Pay it Forward Challenge
1. Avoid the Darkside: If you feel anger at someone, try to smile. If you want to scream, sing your favorite song instead. If someone cuts you off, be sure to let the next person in instead of passing on the anger. Keep a level head if your children test you.
And if you have one of those really, really bad days, try to get someone to give you a small break, call a friend who would understand, or say you need virtual hugs on Facebook/Twitter. Just don’t pass on the frustration to another.
Grab the button.
2. Pay it Forward: Do something random to help a stranger. Pay extra money at a toll for a car (or two) behind you. Give your waitress an extra tip if she was nice. Bring doughnuts to the early morning meeting. Buy a stranger’s coffee. Smile at anyone who makes eye contact.
If anyone asks you why, just say, “Pay it forward and do the same for someone else.”
3. Show “I Love You”: Try to avoid taking out negative feelings on those closest to you. Hug your children more than usual. Smile at them more. Create a new tradition. Laugh together. Cuddle with your spouse. Buy them flowers or a favorite treat just because you love them. Or make a mix tape/CD/iTunes play list for them.
Send a friend a thank you email for something awesome they did for you. Call up an old friend you haven’t spoken to in a while. Tell your mother/father/grandparent/sibling/cousins you love them. Show your family and friends that you accept and love them for who they are, not what they are.
4. Post this as your status on Facebook and/or Twitter sometime this week and ask others to please pass it on:
“I accept people for who they are as a person. I don’t base it on the color of their skin or if they are straight or gay. I don’t care if they follow the Koran, The Bible, or something else, as long as they treat everyone with respect.”
5. Grab the button and blog about numbers 1 -3 above that you and/or someone else did. Or just add it to the comments below.
6. Link up here on Friday, September 16th, and read what others did this week.
Please pass this post and challenge on to others. Share it on Facebook. Tweet it out. Heck, Stumble it if that’s your thing. Let’s try to have a mass of positive energy this week flow around the world.
* * * LINK UP * * *
[...] funny, be warned. That being said, I have a challenge for everyone this week. A link will go live HERE on Friday if you want to blog about your [...]
[...] up HERE from 9-16-11 thru 9-23 with your post of what you did this week to meet the [...]
[...] around me. Before long, three girls had wrapped themselves in it resembling a wool scrum of sorts. Go to Kelly’s blog to check out her story (and others) of Paying It [...]
[...] don’t forget to link up over HERE with your Pay it Forward Challenge [...]
So … what did I do this week? I did keep your challenge in mind, Kelly, and posted it on my FB to try to spread the good vibes.
1. Avoid the Darkside: I was very upset earlier in the week reading some ugly, venomous bullcrap that was written as a response to a local news article covering our Savannah Pride festival that was held last weekend. I actually registered at the site so I could address some points — and I kept it civil an nice, though I longed to be just as ugly as the folks I was addressing. One person in particular made me want to give him a high five. With a rock. In his face. (Stole that one from my friend, Emma). But I did not. I let it go. Not easy for me to do. But I did not want to perpetuate the hate by actively hating the hater.
2. Pay it Forward: I learned that yesterday was “R U OK?” Day in Australia. I thought this was so cool. It was a national initiative to raise awareness of suicide and suicide prevention. The point was to make contact with the people you care about and ask, “Are you okay?” Because sometimes folks are not, even when they seem to be. So I spread it around, and asked the folks I work with, and told them why. Shared it with my youth group, too.
3. Show “I Love You”: This was the easiest, for me. After Savannah Pride, I sent FB messages to as many of the youth group as I could, telling them how proud I was of each, picking some characteristic of each of them that made me proud and made them special. And I showed the video of our performance of “Born This Way” to as many people as I could. And I emailed “I love yous” to my own kids — but I do that every week.
When my children were born, I made a vow that not a day would go by that I did not tell them how special and wonderful they were, and how much I loved them, even when they were too little to know the words. As they grew older and became more independent, I don’t know if I managed it every day, but I bet I got a high percentage of them. My thought was that if I kept telling my children how wonderful they were, they would grow up believing it. Too often I see parents in public yelling at their children, calling them stupid and bad and all sorts of awful things. If you tell a child that all the time, what is that child going to grow up believing?
My children are grown and far away now, living happy and productive lives. But sometimes the thought will just hit me, and out of the blue I will text, “I love you, Bud.” Or email, “I love you, Jen.” (Jen does not have a cell phone, does not want one).
Spread the love. Thank you, Kelly, for such an awesome idea *HUG*
Kelly, what an awesome idea. I’m having a bit of a rough couple of weeks…nothing in particular, just the general blahs, feeling overwhelmed, etc. I am going to take this challenge, and I will make every effort to link up by the end of the week
angela recently posted..Fourteen Hours
Some comments from my other posts from readers who don’t blog:
Trish: “I like that term. Mommy Zen. I’ve been trying to be nicer to my kids and husband this week. I’m inspired. Also, I did suck in my snark at the eye Doctor’s. The assistant was in a snit. I thought, maybe he’s got something going on behind the scenes. I laughed off his snit and soon got him to smile too. I like this challenge.”
Rama: “Like this post. I was zen mommy this week, taking little dude for EEG, during EEG, and after. Didn’t freak out or tense at all. Wednesday, was nervous about MRI, but managed little dude so well (no nap, no lunch allowed)that he was really well behaved. Didn’t freak out when the sedation didn’t work and he woke up in the middle of the MRI, or when he was drugged and difficult to handle. I was calm when he spit medicine back at me because he didn’t want it.
I was nervous while waiting for results yesterday, but calm. I was calm telling hubbie the results, too. I am soo overjoyed that his MRI is normal, that the abnormal EEG seems like nothing. Today I am thankful for my wonderful luck, and continue to focus on the positive. Like you, I am learning that staying calm makes a huge difference in how our children behave. And, learning that our loving hubbies love getting love from us.”
[...] how I can relate with both of those things! One of the posts that really caught my eye was the Pay It Forward Challenge that Kelly has as a link up this week. She explains how the challenge came about [...]