Optimism is one of the ingredients to a healthy and happy life, but so too is giving. Sometimes you can go out of your way to give ranging from an actual gift to a simple act of kindness, the latter we seem to forget about these days or overlook in our everyday busy life. And with Christmas just around the corner, it is unfortunate to see so many people lose the simple acts of kindness and giving in ways other than the gifts. Instead they grumble, push and may even abuse their way through seemingly endless Christmas shopping to try make this once a year celebration a ‘happy’ day. We simply need to stop, press the pause button for even a minute and be thankful for what we have and the simple things in life. Instead of silently cursing the slower walker in front of you or that other car who beat you by 1 second to the parking spot, take the opportunity to have a breath and be thankful that you can walk (or have the ability to walk faster!) to begin with or say to yourself ‘OK you won that spot today I’ll find my one’... anything to distract your mind from pessimism or abuse!
The other night I was tired from a few long shifts at work and was on the late night extended Christmas trading shift. About an hour before I was due to knock off, I turned a corner to see a lady getting my attention to show me a lovely shattered bright orange nail polish over a 3x1m area of the shops white porcelain tiles... panic!
The lady was embarrassed enough as it was and horrified of the polish on the shiny white tiles so being hidden in the back corner of the shop I left her to watch for customers while I hurried to find the mop and cleaner. No sooner had I started mopping had I realised this was actual nail polish and nothing beats getting nail polish off tiles other than acetone! So the next 30 minutes or so the lady and I spent some quality time together scrubbing the polish off the tiles bit by bit.
For a start being horrified she said it was unstable and fell and I knew there was a strong wind coming in the pharmacy so left it at that, but as we talked she felt more comfortable to say her fingers may have knocked it. It was a given but I thanked her for her honesty, many people simply run away and leave a mess with no explanation for us or deny it altogether to avoid paying. I was also thankful that this lady stayed to help me clean it up even though she had children waiting for her, another sign it was more than the wind but that fact she stayed meant a lot to me especially when we are our own store cleaners. The polish was scented at least so I said we would have a few nice smelling and extra clean tiles in the store and she thanked me for my positivity.
And she started talking about her day how the shops were so busy and she was trying to do the right thing such as giving her shopping trolley to an older lady yet so many bad things were happening to her and the nail polish was hopefully her last! But these things happen, we all have bad days and these only make the good days seem better. Maybe she had to drop the nail polish because someone was already getting her it for Christmas? Maybe she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time? Too many people are pessimistic these days which is a burden to ourselves and those around us and hinder our health. But it is so nice to hear there are still people doing simple acts of kindness throughout the busy and stressful festive season, after all isn’t this what Christmas is really all about? Simple giving, kindness and love?
So to the lady out there who had a bad day but still went out of her way to help those around her and then actually stayed to clean up her spillage - thank you, your kindness does not go unnoticed, and if I was to help with your positivity through a bad day I am so glad I could. After all it was the day the world was suppose to end, and if it was to end why should we cry over spilt polish??
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