Random Acts of Kindness Stories - Part 1

Listen to 5 people tell their quick 2-minute stories about when a stranger was really kind to them and brightened their day.  Thank you Deron, Ella, Scott, Aubrie & Anastassia for sharing your kindness stories with us.

Want to submit your kindness story? Send Lunden a DM on IG (@lifelikelunden) and she will send you the link to the folder to upload your video.

Transcript

Lunden Souza: [00:00:00] Welcome to Self Love and Sweat THE PODCAST, the place where you'll get inspired to live your life unapologetically, embrace your perfect imperfections, break down barriers and do what sets your soul on fire. I'm your host, Lunden Souza. Hey, welcome back to the podcast. This episode is super special. This episode is all about stories of random acts of kindness. So you're going to hear short, quick stories from people all over the world about when a stranger and someone they didn't know was really kind to them or helped them out in a really cool way that they still remember. So it's been really awesome. I created this ten day just to give you a little background. I created this ten day, more love, more sweat challenge, a workout and kindness challenge which you can still join today if you want to. You can find the link in the show notes. And when I created this challenge, I started reaching out to others, asking them, Hey, when a stranger is kind to you, what are they doing when someone is showing you a random act of kindness? What is it? What feels like kindness to you from a stranger? And I started getting all of these really amazing stories and these videos from people I've met, people I've never met, but just have been following on social media. And it's been such an amazing experience to hear these stories because what you'll hear is that it doesn't take a ton of money, it doesn't take a full day or a full weekend of your time to just show someone some kindness. It's really simple. It's really easy, but we just have to kind of get out of our autopilot in order to find more opportunities to be the kindness and see the kindness in this world. So thank you, everybody, for contributing your stories here. They are random act of kindness stories.

Deron: [00:01:56] Good morning, coach. So my story revolves around something that I don't care for. Yard work necessary evil. If you own a home like the end result, just don't enjoy the process. Right. So one day I'm outside, I'm doing a yard work, you know, cutting, trimming, sweating, suffering, and I get a tap on my shoulder from behind. Freaked me out a little bit because I had my headphones and I was in my zone. So I turn around and there's an older couple standing behind me. So I take off the headphones and I say, How you doing? Can I help you? And the gentleman says to me, You know, my wife and I, we walk by here a lot. We drive by here a lot, too, because we live right around the corner. And since you were out here, we just wanted to say, you do a really good job taking care of your yard every time we come by here, it looks nice. And since you were out here, we just wanted to say you're doing a good job. Keep it up. So. So, I mean, after he told me that I was ready to cut grass for two more hours. Right. So it's been a few years since that happened. I haven't seen him since. I don't know if he even lives in the neighborhood anymore. And I still don't like yard work, but I think about that every so often. Sometimes when I'm doing the yard work and I'm struggling, I think about what he said that day. You know, he's kind of my patron saint of yard work, and that usually gets me through. So but I'll always appreciate him taking the time to stop by and give me that compliment still resonates today. So that's my story about kindness from a stranger.

Aubrie: [00:03:55] Hi. My name is Aubrie, and this is my story about a random act of kindness from a stranger that I won't ever forget. My friends and I were about 18 years old. There was about six of us were riding bikes one day, and then all of a sudden my friend's tube inside the tire popped. So here we are, pretty far away from any of our houses, miles away from any of our houses, and we can't go on together because of my friends. Tires popped. A gentleman driving around sees us and stops his car and says, Hey guys, I live right up the street. I have tubes and tires and a bike pump. Do you need it? And he was able to bring my friend to get a new tube, new and fix his tire. And it was just such a beautiful observation of somebody that was just doing his own thing during his day and saw a group of kids that were probably needing help and came to tune in and see what's up. So you never know who's there or who you can reach out to as well.

Ella: [00:05:04] Hi, Lunden. I have a great story for you. So when I was in high school, I used to go to this gym here in Massachusetts and I would go every single day. And there was this one day where for some reason, whatever it was, I was really upset. And there's just a lot going on in my life, whatever it was. But when I got to the gym, I just broke down and I was crying and I was really kind of embarrassed about it. I was trying not to show people that I was crying in the middle of the gym. I was a little bit ashamed and, you know, didn't really want to talk to anyone about it. But this woman that I used to see every single day, every time I went to the gym, she was an older woman and she was always killing it. She was always grinding, like pushing herself, working so hard. Total badass. So she noticed that I was upset. We had never spoken before and she came up to me and for whatever reason, she just had this inviting personality and this warmth tour that I ended up kind of sharing with her why I was upset that day. And we sort of started our relationship there and she invited me over to her house. And so I went over for dinner and I learned all about her kids who are adults and grown up. And she just became a really big inspiration for me, for someone who just was kind to everybody and pushed herself. And I could tell that she really, really cared about the people around her. And she's a still part of my life to this day. We still text back and forth, but she made a really big impact on me that day, and I'll never forget how she made me feel. And that will always stick with me. So. Yeah.

Scott: [00:06:40] Back in my first year of high school algebra was not my thing. I flunked algebra the first two semesters down in the old days. You could do it in two semesters or four. And I got called in the principal's office and the principal sat me down and I was frustrated and upset, thought I wasn't doing good, and thought it was all me. And I never was going to learn anything. And he gave me a piece of advice. He said, I think I'm going to put you in geometry. I went, Are you nuts? What are you going to stick me in geometry for? Because now sometimes the kids learn differently about me and geometry. I averaged 110 on every test. Never did a day's worth of homework. Found a joy and a passion for a subject that I'd never math or that I never enjoyed. Now, what kid who grows up to build things doesn't know the Pythagorean theorem. So shout out to principals and all the teachers out there who are doing the little things behind the scene to encourage kids to keep at it, keep trying that you can do this and you're going to make something of yourself someday.

Anastassia: [00:07:39] Hey, my name is Anastassia, and I wanted to share with you a story of kindness that I just recently experienced. So I was actually sitting at a drive thru a fast food drive thru not too long ago, and there was a really long line at this drive thru and there was this guy at the front that was actually trying to cut in front of everybody. Now, I don't know if he was in the rush or what was happening, but he was trying to cut and naturally nobody was letting him in the line now because I was feeling just really mellow that day and I had some nice music playing. I decided to let him cut in front of me. And the crazy thing is that when I pulled up to the window, the drive thru attendant told me, You know, you don't owe anything because the guy in front of you paid for you, you paid for your meal. And that was the guy that I like cut in front of me. So I thought that was such a sweet gesture and just a really great reminder that when we do things for each other from the heart without expecting anything back, without expecting anything in return, wonderful things happen and that kindness always comes back to us.

Lunden Souza: [00:08:45] I really hope that you enjoyed these random act of kindness stories. I hope they inspire you to go out and find more opportunities to be kind and help others. And if you want to add your story to the Random Acts of Kindness playlist that I've created on YouTube and potentially have your story be featured on future episodes of the podcast, go ahead and check out the show notes for all the details on how you can submit your video, submit your kindness story, and together we can help spread more kindness into the world. Have a great day. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Self Love and Sweat, the podcast. Hey, do me a favor. Wherever you're listening to this podcast, give us a review. This really helps a lot and share this with a friend. I'm only one person and with your help, we can really spread the message of self love and sweat and change more lives all around the world. I'm Lunden Souza, reminding you that you deserve a life full of passion, presence and purpose fueled by self love and sweat. This podcast is a Hitspot. Austria production.