Thoughts and Works.

Remember having "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls stuck in your head?

YO!  I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I WANT, WHAT I REALLY, REALLY WANT!

Or maybe that was just me.  What I'm trying to say is, you know what it feels like to have a song stuck in your head, right?  Stuck so bad it feels like your brain has become a broken record?  Stuck so bad that the lyrics creep into your conversations?  Stuck so bad that it keeps you up at night?  Stuck so bad that it feels like you have some sort of disease?

Well, I'm suffering from this.  I diagnosed myself yesterday.  But I don't have a song stuck in my head.  I have a very random conglomeration of thoughts.  And I'm beginning to see they all link together.  Let me share them with you.

THOUGHT 1.

Two years ago, I was lucky enough to date one of the nicest guys I've ever met.  Fresh off the mission, this boyfriend treated me like porcelain and was continually complimenting every move I made.  One of our favourite pastimes was just sitting and telling stories.  I know it's been two years, and he's got married since, but I can't seem to get one of his stories out of my head.  Teasing himself, he told me about his first week back to school after his mission.  He laughed while expressing how he felt like he HAD to say "Hi" and smile at every single person he passed in the halls.  "Thank goodness I finally realized that I don't."

THOUGHT 2.

It's finally nice enough outside to go running.  I love running outside.  I love it so much it puts me in a good mood.  It puts me in such a good mood that I smile and say "Hi" to the people I run past.  But only because I'm close to them for approximately 5 seconds and then I'm gone.  You see, I'm kinda shy and it's sorta scary to say "Hi" to people.  But I can do it when I'm running.  Is it really that much scarier to say "Hi" to someone when I'm not running?

THOUGHT 3.

I was lucky enough to run into some people this weekend who take the time to read my blog.  I could feel myself blushing as they smothered me with their kind words.  THANK YOU.  It's amazing how good I feel after someone simply tells me they took the time to read my blog, let alone that they liked it.  Is it really that simple to make someone's day?

THOUGHT 4.

All the way back in January, one of my favourite fellow bloggers posted something I've been pondering ever since.  I love reading Chanel's blog, but for some reason her post If I could only see has seriously been weighing on my mind for three months now.  To sum it up, she concludes with saying, "In 5 years I'm probably not going to remember everything a person has said to me or every nice thing they ever did for me, but I will be able to remember the way they made me feel."

THOUGHT 5.

I'm nearing the end of a very stressful semester.  I have so many papers and projects and presentations due in the next week that I have to use all my fingers and some toes to count them.  If I were to sit and dwell on this, I think I could very likely suffer an anxiety attack.  What can I do to keep myself from wallowing in the fact that I have a lot of work to do this week?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Where the heck am I going with this?  Good question.  Let me sum things up.  I'm challenging myself to do something this week.

Link to 1. 

We live in a society where acknowledging the existence of another human being is weird.  We're one of the only species that will go blatantly out of our way to not interact with each other. I don't know why, but in order to follow social norms we must not be social.  I'm definitely guilty of this.

Link to 2.

Us humans are raised to fear each other.  People we don't know are  strangers.  And strangers are the people who break into your house, steal your belongings, kill your brother, and kidnap your baby.  Strangers must be avoided at all costs.  DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS!  Wait, aren't I a stranger to the people who don't know me?  Would I ever even consider doing any of those things to someone?

Link to 3. 

It feels so good to be complimented, or even just acknowledged.  Even on something as little as the words I write.  I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person alive who enjoys being recognized.

Link to 4.

How do I make other people feel?  Do I simply make someone's bad day worse?  Do people dread having me around?  Or am I able to make someone's day a little brighter?

Link to 5.

I can't think of a better way to keep my mind off my own stress than by concentrating more on the people I meet.

And so it is, I'm embarking on a social experiment. 

I plan to spend the next week ignoring social norms and my own fears.  I plan to recognize others and to make them feel good.  I plan to not only survive this final week of the semester, I plan to enjoy it, and I am confident the best way to do this is by focussing on the people I meet and how I make them feel.

Are you up for a challenge too?