Margaret Serious

Self-care that’s contagious: Kindness

Browsing though “The *More or Less* Definitive Guide to Self-Care,” as I’ve done before, yielded a surprise on Wednesday morning: “Little Acts of Kindness” was listed in the Ls.

No, I’m not questioning the alphabetizing — little acts can seem like something to look for when I need to take care of myself. But when I am looking for something to take care of myself, it can be surprising to find advice to be kind to someone else.

Surprising, but useful.

As author Anna Borges put it, “Good deeds don’t need to be 100 percent selfless. Making other people happy — whether it’s loved ones or strangers — has the power to get you out of your own head and give you a small sense of purpose, even when you’re feeling the most down and useless.” (Now remember, she wrote this before COVID-19 hit.)

The opposite page from that sentence has a big, blue box full of ideas, headlined “What does an act of kindness actually look like?” Here are some of my favorites for us these days:

“Run an errand for a friend who is totally swamped.”

“Randomly text your friends your favorite things about them or memories you cherish.”

“Call a loved one you don’t talk to often but who you know would love to hear from you.”

See? Except for the “totally swamped” part, kindness hasn’t changed all that much. My pandemic edit for that would to run an errand for a friend who can’t get out to a store.

Any of these things — or anything you’re thinking of now because you expected them instead — just change your thinking away from moping about whatever’s wrong and into trying to add to what’s right.

Go ahead, make someone’s day. Chances are, it’ll make yours, too.

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Sustaining Books

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Self-care