Share a Smile - Lift Yourself Up

I decided to restart my blog, to force my mind to do some original writing again. My executives and my teammates' roles have changed during the Covid-19 crisis.  As a result, my job is not as fast-paced and the need for creativity is not as it once was.  Much of my work these days has been more data entry focused and less right brain focused. Don’t get me wrong, I am deeply grateful to still have a job. I feel fortunate to be working on the projects I am working on, as the projects are helping others in the healthcare industry. 

The topic of this post is sharing a smile.  As some of you might have read in my prior blog post “My journey to be “Smiley” again”, I brought smiling back to my career. This positive attitude, personally serves me well. 

Now… enter Covid-19 and shelter-at-home.  I could see that this “new norm” was quickly taking its toll on my more social friends, family and colleagues. I knew it would also take its toll on me as the days rolled on. I wondered what I could do about it. I saw so many people on FB and on the news doing amazing things for the people around them. I watched inspirational videos.  I laughed at the clever memes.  I marveled at the free things to do to help occupy our time.  I just kept wondering how I could do my little part to help the people I care about.

Then, it hit me.  I dusted off my Daily Smile concept.  But, I realized it needed to be more than just a joke or a meme.  It had to help the wide variety of people I wanted to include in the daily email. I added a quote, a helpful hint and a funny link to my daily joke. I created a mailing list of about 100 friends, family and coworkers and sent it out for a few days to see if it would really help. I offered to remove people if they felt that receiving one more piece of email in their inbox was just annoying. As of today, no one has asked to be removed. Some people have been sharing it with their family, friends and coworkers. Many people have been sending me items I can use in future emails.  And, most inspiring is that almost daily, I get a reply from a person that tells me how I made their day with the helpful link, the quote or some random part of the email.

I quickly became aware that this daily email was also helping me. Looking for new material to share or reading what others are sending me, has been a huge daily smile for me.  I noticed that the littlest thing can truly change my day from sad to glad. 

I know I am not saving lives.  I am not moving my community to do something amazing. But, in my own little way, I believe I am helping people I care about, a little bit each day. 

So… please share a little smile each day. Send a letter to a friend. Post a nice note or fun link. Put a chalk drawing on your driveway for walkers to see. It will improve your outlook on things.