Practicing Kindness in December, even if for yourself

 

In the world we are in right now, everyone needs more kindness especially with "care and understanding."  And yesterday, I felt no-one needed more kindness than I did when I woke up to a cooler than normal house and it was a repeat of last Friday.  No heat coming from the furnace.  The furnace was running, but no heat was coming through the vents, so the house was a lovely, brisk 55 degrees.  Attie, the cat, was not happy.  I think Ella thought I was doing it on purpose.  And I had a lab test scheduled for 7:30 a.m. and I knew I couldn't place a call until after 7:30 a.m.  So I did my morning walk with Ella, came back, closed off all the rooms, and started the gas fireplace to get a little heat in the living room and den.  To add insult to injury, yesterday the featured word was "joy" and I was definitely NOT feeling joyful.  I think I expressed a few things with a lot of expletives deleted.  I'm pretty sure Ella heard words she had never heard before.  Then I had the drive to the lab test.  First getting stuck behind a school bus (multiple stops on the main street I needed to take) and then the fine mist started and despite my best efforts I could not keep the windshield clear enough for really good visibility in the dark morning.  It was one of those "white knuckle" drives and let's just say I was not feeling in my best holiday spirit.  However, I knew I needed to be nice to the lovely people who start work at 7 so I can get a lab test (fasting blood test) at 7:30.  So, I held it together for check in, but then when the lab technician asked me how my morning was going, I had to laugh.  Laugh at myself and at the circumstances and I shared that it had not been a stellar start to the day.  So blood drawn and home I headed to call in for a repair person and I talked to a very nice young woman who was very sympathetic and kept apologizing since this was a repeat call.  And we laughed together because we both knew it wasn't her fault, but I appreciated her sympathy.  Anyway, despite my difficult morning, I felt it was important to not take it out on others and that by demonstrating kindness toward them, was also a kindness toward myself.  Being kind to myself also  meant that I did not do my usual stop after a fasting blood test for a breakfast loaded with calories that while short term might be a reward of sorts, would just add unnecessary calories that I wouldn't be able to work off with exercise later since I was to spend the day at home waiting for a repair person.   So, I figure I was kind to myself by sticking to my calorie count for the day. (That meant oatmeal, not eggs benedict.)  And I decided that was good enough.  Sometimes we need to be kind to ourselves in order to be kind to others.  As this is the season of generosity and random acts of kindness, I will hope that you are on the receiving end of some act of kindness by someone this month, but most importantly are being especially kind to yourself.

And regarding my furnace, a very nice and knowledgeable technician came and was able to assess the problem was the outside air intake and probably snow buildup on my roof.  Since there is no way I can get up there,  he showed me some quick fixes I can do if it happens again.   And since this was a repeat visit, no charge.  Now that was a real act of kindness!