Miss Positive Pants

This year would be different. I tell myself that all the time, but I really meant it this year. I wanted to be different. I wanted to be better. I got married in January and that felt like a good place to start fresh. A new last name, a new chance. I think I really felt motivated by all of the negativity that seems to flood my newsfeed on my social media avenues. In January, I decided I wanted to start a sort of project for myself. No one had to hold me accountable to it except me. It started with an idea. I was trying to figure out a way to bring both my family, and my new family together. I wanted to find a way to bond us all. It might sound cheesy, but for me, it was important. I wanted to show my family that I’m still the girl they grew up with, I just have a new last name. I wanted to show my “new” family that I wanted to be a part of their lives. I decided I wanted to do something for the girls. I found a really great company called Lotus Sky. They sell handmade bracelets from Nepal. Their company works to employ refugee women and empower them. They began a project called Sisters Under One Sky. How perfect, I thought. I’m trying to bring 2 families together and they are trying to bring women together. Then I started counting the many women in my family. I reached out to most of them and asked them their favorite colors. I worked with one of the women at lotus sky who then created bracelets incorporating their favorite colors. At the same time, I found a business who sells notecards and had them send me a notecard I could include with each bracelet. It had one of my favorite sayings on it. “Do small things with great love”. I decided for one year to try and do a random act of kindness a month. That month, I sent out 38 little bracelets with a notecard each.

Flash forward a few months. I had sent a few people a gift here and there. I wanted to do more. What was once a little gift giving, had spiraled into an avenue of charity. I wanted to be involved and I wanted to get my friends and family involved too. You see, we are so driven by social media. Lately, everything I see is negative. I’m a nurse and my job day in and out has its own heavy weight of the world. Now, my social media is the same way. People lashing out at people. It just spotlights all thats wrong with the world. I wanted my social media impact to be different. No fighting, no arguing, just a bright light in a dark world.

I started looking for unique ways to give back. I came across an organization in my hometown called Lunches of Love. They work day in and out to provide meals for low income kids over the weekend and on holidays and during the summer. Our educational system has worked to provide meals for kids at school, but why doesn’t anyone think about what is supposed to happen when they go home for christmas, or they are off for the summer? I started looking for ways to get involved. They mentioned they were running low on brown paper bags to provide the lunches in. I saw in their photos they usually decorated the bag with stickers or a few words. This got my creative heart flowing. I had my husband pick up 50 bags and I spent a weekend with my markers, colored pencils and stencils. My hands hurt by the end, but I loved getting involved in that way. Soon enough, 50 bags were on their way to Lunches of Love. I’ve noticed that for the most part, organizations just need to be seen. I started sharing my project on my social media outlets. Soon, people were sending me messages and texts asking how they could do it too! A doctor had her team work on them. Several people I grew up with were sending them in too! All because one little nurse decided to try and make a difference.

I started looking for another opportunity. One of my random act of kindness gifts a month prior, had been a few cigars from a hometown store. I don’t know how I came across it, but I learned about Operation Cigars for Warriors. They work to donate cigars to soldiers in active combat zones. I started reading stories from soldiers who were so thankful. Thankful that at the end of a high stress day, they were able to sit back and enjoy a cigar, just like they did back home. What a simple way to bring a smile to someone’s face. Don’t we owe that to a soldier? My brother in law is a Captain in the Army. Naturally I thought of him. What if it were him in that active combat zone. I know he’s been there. What could I do? I decided to start a little drive. I wanted to donate cigars. I posted about it on my social media pages and the cigars came pouring in. Then I remembered my little cigar shop back home. The owner was proud to help. I started asking for donations of cash that I could spend with him. My dollar was going to go further that way. Flash forward a few weeks. I now have 80 cigars and a couple of cigar magazines to send to the organization who will then send them out to the soldiers. So many people wanted to get involved.

This is just the beginning of my journey. It got me thinking about not only other charities, but companies that get my business. I started searching for “social good” companies and boy are they out there. I can’t wait to be able to share them with you. Stay posted, its worth it. I promise.

I guess the main reason I’m sharing all of this, is because I want you to hear it from me. I’m trying to do this to inspire change. I want you to read about my gifts or my causes and start to feel that little spark. I want you to reach out to local businesses and give them your money. I want you to see a person in need and stop to ask them how you can help. I want you to feel like my zest for helping is contagious. Can you imagine how much the world would change if everyone did ONE kind thing for someone else?

I hope you’ll stay on this journey with me and read about it. I hope I can be a little light in YOUR world.