desire to inspire

News can be so overwhelming. For me, I've just never enjoyed listening to or reading it because it tends to depress me, like the character Sadness (in Inside Out) kind of mood. Back in my bartending days in Dallas, I remember this (super cute but never asked me out) guy, James, and he would find the fun articles, the 'good news' ones, and would read them to me... and I just remember feeling that THAT was the news. The good stuff.

Fast forward to today and to social media. We all love it, but we all have our moments where we really hate it, especially if you still have Facebook. May I add, I'm so happy I deleted the account. Just so you know, there isn't any kind of FOMO for deleting that (silly) account... what I have is a less stressed out life. The only reason I say this is because so many I talk with talk about how much they are over it, and most express how they should just delete it. But they don't...

Trust me, YOU WILL BE HAPPIER WITHOUT IT. Unless you run a business on it, then I can see the value. Kinda.

Instagram is what I mainly roll with and I really try to watch the content that I follow. I want my content to be happy and uplifting, I don't want much political and really, I don't want any kind of bs on my page. I do have two pages that I follow that I absolutely love and are my inspiration for writing this...

@tanksgoodnews and @spreadlovemovement_

They just post the good stuff, they post feel good stories. And for me, to see their regular posts of such positivity and happiness, of people out there doing good, honestly, I felt inspired. I felt like I was almost lighter in my stress because I was really kinda happier. Negativity breeds negativity and the same for positivity. And it got me thinking... what can I do? Look I'm not moving mountains, but every little bit counts and just to put some kinda of positivity out there, well, I'm in. I haven't posted much of any of this on my Insta but I wanted to share it here in this post. Look, if these guys and others don't share what they have, I don't know if I would be as inspired as I am. So I want to do the same. I want to encourage, inspire and help do my part in bringing good to this beautiful world.

The first thing I did was Marie Kondo'ed my stuff and donated things that no longer sparked joy. Easy peasy. I've had some friends that throw things away but I just can't. But I do offer and will put this to you, don't ever throw away, I will come get it and I will donate it. Just sayin

Then, a couple of months ago I whipped into Chick-fil-A. We've all heard the stories of buying the person's meal behind us... so I did. I for sure thought or was hopeful that the person behind would enjoy the moment, maybe brighten their day and you know, spread the love... but I was not expecting the young man at the window to be in such appreciation. And I got a true, heart felt, "God bless you" when I drove away and you know what, I'll take all the "God bless yous" I can get.

Some of what I have Insta storied about are of the cats on my block that I feed. We had two cats for 12 years and they both died within 6 months of each other. It was actually a year ago last week that we lost our second cat. Since I still had some food and flea medicine, I started leaving food out. It started with a grey cat, named Christian (Grey) and he came around for over a year. I would feed him and put the flea medicine on him, why the hell not, right? Then one day he showed up and was in bad shape. I raced him to the vet, but unfortunately he didn't make it and $250 later, Christian now rests next to Bradshaw and Who-Dey out back in our now Pet Cemetery. After Christian, I just keep putting the food out and I now feed this orange cat in the am, two black cats at night, and a third black cat came last night. One is hurt but seems to be ok and the other had babies and is skinny. And then there is Zoe... my sweet, sweet Zoe. Our neighbor up and moved while we were away in the mountains back in October AND SHE LEFT HER CAT. I'll bite my tongue on that topic.... But Zoe sits out on the front porch every day. And I feed her, every morning and every night. Then I have three other cats that come around that I feed. One is hurt but seems to be ok, one just had babies and is skinny and the other is younger and well, skinny too. Some are too scared but I tell them I love them and I will take care of them as long as I can.

There's also this man in our neighborhood that I see all the time. He doesn't beg like some of the others do. I see him collecting cans and even see him sweeping at a place or two. I like that. So last month when I saw him out on a corner just sitting there, I was on my way to McDonald's and just thought to get him some food. I got him a meal and had them put it in a second bag and found him at a bus stop. I got out and went to him. I started talking to him which is when I found out his name, Eddie, and told him mine. I told him to enjoy and I could see he was happy to have a fresh meal and probably, maybe even moreso than the meal, someone to talk to. I saw him a few days later at a light and rolled down my window to say hi. I asked him if his McDonald's was good and he said "NO. It was deee-licious" and he said it in such a way that I know he loved that damn meal. And now when I see him, I roll down my window, yell his name and wave and he waves back with a big smile. Which makes me smile and feel so damn good inside. It's like the purest of medicine. Joy.

And what, how much did any of that cost me ... not much. Cat food is cheap, and so is fast food. But it is priceless to some. Because some just are down on their luck and they need help. They need OUR help.

I have grander visions of how I want to help, of how I want to give back, and how I want to support our community, city, state and world. I'm not sure how this dream will work itself out... but where there is a will, there is a way.

I know we all have different views and my view is that if we can help, we should. And if we all just do some small act(s) of kindness when we can, I think it could make our world such a beautiful world to live in.

And truly, to Tanks and to Spread Love's page, I thank them for taking the time to put out the content they do and/or to act on those random acts of kindness that they do. I probably wouldn't be writing this post and sharing/spreading the love, and the woman I met a few hours ago when I handed her a #2 from McDonald's may not have had lunch today or even a meal... so thank you to these pages. Keep doing what you're doing because....