A Sweet Pre-Birthday Surprise…

By now you know how much I love my birthday (t-minus three days…and counting). Today I’ll be getting my hair done — something I rarely ever treat myself to. But I’m excited to change it up a bit. Make sure to follow along on Snapchat and Instagram (@livinginsteil) to see my new ‘do.

Today I wanted to talk about the kindness of strangers (or in this case, new co-workers). I was inspired to write this post after I went in to work the other day and saw a little white box with the words “happy almost birthday” accompanied by a card on my desk.

If you saw my post on Monday, you may recall that my recent blood work came back with high thyroid numbers. This immediately sent me into a panic and I had to wait until yesterday to go for a neck ultrasound. The saga continues, as my endocrinologist is sending me for more blood work.

In the meantime, I’ve been frantically calling doctors all week (unable to concentrate for any span longer than three minutes), having results sent to all of them, and counting the seconds until I saw my endocrinologist. I now have more days to get through as I await the next set of blood work and results.

But during one of those hard days I stopped and chatted with a co-worker. I’ve only been at my job for two months and it has been hard to make friends. I talked to her about where I’ve worked before, and how I was finding my current position. I mentioned to her about my current health situation and how upset I was over it. In those moments I stopped thinking about myself. As my attention shifted to my new friend and her life, I was reminded that other people have their own battles, which can put yours in perspective.

I took comfort that day in the kindness of a relative stranger — and how similar we both were — despite being at very different points in our lives.

Her generosity truly touched me when I saw the sweet surprise she had left for me (cupcakes, yum!). The fact that she went out of her way to make my birthday a little more special brought tears to my eyes. And her beautiful card and handwritten note solidified the fact that this is a card I will treasure for a long time to come.

The events that unfolded this past week again reminded me of my favorite quote, “Be kinder than necessary, for everyone is fighting some kind of battle.” So as we head into the weekend, let’s try to smile even when we may not feel like it, say hello to people we pass when we are going about our day, and stop for a moment to brighten someone else’s day. You never know when one kind act may be just what someone needs.

I’ll be back on Monday to share a very special post with lots of life lessons from my twenties. See you then!