A good deed a day - join me in the movement!

Join me in the good deed a day movement.

A good deed can be as small as opening the door for someone. A lot of people have a resolution set in place to ‘give back or volunteer’ for the New Year. To kickstart and help with this goal, I am giving you all a HEAP of ideas and suggestions you can select from. Remember that volunteering doesn’t have to necessarily be a chore or something you don’t enjoy. You honestly cannot replace the feeling that helping others fills you with!

The idea of 'a good deed a day' has existed for a while now, but here's my spin on things.

Sending out positive energy through a simple good deed will always come back to you. And I don't mean in the 'what goes around, comes around' way. I truly believe that extending positivity out into world will make you a happier, healthier person.

For 2018, I challenge you to perform any kind of good deed for the whole month of January.

After the 31 days, recalibrate and think about how the change has affected you.

These are just a few of my 'good deed a day' ideas:

Ask a friend how they're doing
Find some clothes you no longer wear and donate them to charity
Let someone merge in front of you in peak hour ;)
Send your loved one a mantra to lighten up their day. A personal favourite of mine is "Always stand up for yourself - if you don't, why should anyone else?"
Donate blood
Say good morning to a stranger on the way to work
Give up a bad habit
Buy the person behind you their coffee
Make a big meal and taking it in for your workmates for lunch
Chat with the elderly - we often forget elderly neighbours or those in nursing homes who are lonely or would just love to talk.

Starting with small deeds that help others can be an amazing start...

Perhaps you love to knit or are creative. You can make craft to donate to hospitals or charity gift shops to sell. Of course there are many more traditional types of charity work like volunteering at homeless drives and food vans. Or the less structured types of giving that not only help us and those around us, but our environment too - like picking up rubbish at beaches, planting a tree or vegetable garden to donate the produce or gardening your neighbour’s gardens.

What is your talent?

Do you play music? Or perhaps you love kids and are free after school hours? Why not contact your local schools or community groups to help out? A simple hour to you may be a tremendous help to someone else. Are you a good cook? Sometimes a home cooked meal is all someone who is having a really crappy week needs to turn their frown around. Some other deeds which may not seem like ‘much’ but could potentially help change someone else’s day could be allowing a driver into your lane, a shopper with young kids to cut in front of you, cleaning out your wardrobe and donating what you no longer wear to charity, recycling where possible, or volunteering at an animal shelter. A good deed a day can not only relieve your own stress levels, but give you sense of satisfaction that only heart warming acts can fill you with! I know I am guilty of being incredibly time-poor and feeling like I rarely have time for the things in my own life I love to do. But by making time for everything that allows us to live a healthy lifestyle, it truly does provide you with a sense of worth and accomplishment. What's going to be your first 'good deed a day'? Let me know on my Instagram. Sophie x