On 18 August 2011, in response to the UK riots and their aftermath, I resolved to be kind to a stranger every day for a year. To my surprise I’m still at it all these years later! In this time, I’ve sang happy birthday over the phone to a stranger, baked a Victoria sponge for my local newsagent, and walked for 40 minutes in my PJs to help a woman struggling with her shopping (I’d just popped out for milk).

ME TIME

But by far the hardest lesson I’ve learned has been to be kind
to myself. After the first month, weary and footsore, I wrote a list of three things that I knew would make me happy:

1. Get a massage.

2. Have lunch with my best friend, whom I hardly ever see.

3. Hop on the train to Brighton and spend the day in a café by the sea, reading.

I managed all three in one amazing day, and felt as though I’d been on holiday for a week.

SPREAD THE LOVE

If you’ve spent the rush hour jammed between a randomer’s armpit and the sooty doors of the Tube, write your list, book a day to do it, and be kind to yourself. You deserve it. Afterwards you’ll be ready to be kind to everyone else.

Tweet your kindness adventures #BeKind and follow writer and performer Bernadette at BernadetteRussell.com or @betterussell