Encouragement

A couple of weeks ago, while scrolling through Facebook, I received a message from a good friend. It was a cute video of a man telling me how awesome I was and encouraging me to keep up the good work. It was just one of those viral videos someone had made, but on that day, it put a huge smile on my face and filled my heart with happiness.

My friend knew I was going through a particularly difficult time in my life, so she wasn’t surprised that it made me feel so good. What was surprising, however, was how much it would uplift others as well.

I decided to forward the message to many of my Facebook friends. I chose people I knew wouldn’t think I was weird and got to work sending it one after another. Some of these friends I hadn’t spoken to in a while, and I had no idea what was going on in their lives.

Suddenly, responses started pouring in…

“Oh my goodness, this is so timely. Thank you!”
“I cannot tell you what this meant to me.”
“I needed this. It has been a rough week.”

Message after message, people expressed their gratitude for a simple video I hadn’t even made myself. I found myself in deep conversations with friends I hadn’t heard from in months. That’s when I realized something: we all struggle—a lot—and we all need words of encouragement often.

What a simple act. What a profound effect.

The next day, as I reflected on the experience, I started to question myself. Why had I only chosen certain friends? Why was I afraid to send the message to others? Fear of rejection? Fear of looking silly? What if it could have had a profound effect on them as well?

So, I gathered my courage and sent the video to ten more contacts—and waited. To my surprise, I received nothing but gratitude. Maybe the people I had hesitated to send it to needed it even more than the others.

From there, I branched out to the rest of my Facebook friends, coworkers, and acquaintances. Next, I’d like to write words of encouragement and hand them to strangers or leave them on park benches and restaurant tables. It’s amazing how uplifting just a few words of kindness can be.

It reminds me of a story told to me by a young lady named Sara at my daughter’s high school, where they had experienced a series of student suicides the previous year. Sara noticed a young boy in one of her classes who had started to pull away from his friend group and isolate himself from others. Unbeknownst to anyone, the boy had lost his mother to cancer at the beginning of the semester and was suffering tremendously with no one to talk to.

Not knowing about his mother but feeling concerned, Sara left a note in his locker that simply said:

“I see you sit alone each day with the weight of the world on your mind. If you’d like a friend to talk with, I would love to sit with you at lunch or after school.”

What no one knew was that the young boy had planned to take his life that evening. He had bought the rope, chosen the place, and even written his suicide letter. But when he read that little note from Sara, it gave him just enough hope to live another day—and meet with her to talk.

One day turned into two, then three, and soon a friendship grew. A friendship that saved the young boy’s life. And it all started with simple words of kindness.