Although I learned a whole lot of things from 2020, the most important one was just how important family and friends are.
It feels good when you can help them by doing things they can’t. I stared at a computer screen yesterday (again!) for an hour to get the last pesky neighbor a COVID-19 vaccine appointment even though who knows when I’ll get mine. He was pretty darned happy about that. Wednesday, Ben ran over a screw and had a flat tire that he noticed the second he was to pick up Colette from school. I picked her up (only 5 minutes late), loaned him a car to ensure she got to school the next morning, drove or followed him back and forth to the shop for the repair. They were appreciative.
Being able to be there for others when they need you makes you feel good about yourself.
Besides the things you do for family and friends — they also do so many things for you. While I knew that before now, this week I got another Christmas present!
I always pick out what I want Perry to buy me because… well… just because. 😉 So when he told me he ordered a pair of sunglasses that were going to be arriving way after the holiday, I’m sure I rolled my eyes if he wasn’t looking. I already have a great pair and my regular glasses have transitional lenses. Not gonna’ lie, I figured they’d be hideous and I’d wear them a time or two and throw them in a drawer. But NO! Dude picked out a sweet pair of Maui Jim sunglasses! Not just any ole’ pair… the exact pair I would’ve picked out for myself!! His smile was almost as big as my own!
So doing things for others makes them feel great — and you feel pretty good too.
It’s called reciprocal goodness.
Ok, so I don’t know what it’s really called, I just made that shit up. But it’s like when Alisa brought me goodies, I REALLY appreciated it. I hope it made her feel just as good to do something amazingly cool as it made me feel to be on the receiving end.
With 2021 being a refresher course of 2020 so far, we all need more things that make us feel good. Try yourself some of that reciprocal goodness, why dontcha’?
On a COVID side note — We’re at the peak of covid’s destruction in the US and people have sort of ‘checked out.” Doesn’t matter that the average new cases a day is 250,000 or that Indiana’s 7-day average is up 14% from one-week ago. Be careful out there. Your friends and family need you.
TIL (Today I Learned): When you donate blood you lose about 650 calories. That’s equivalent to about one-hour of cardio.