The holiday season is more than gifts and material things. It is about giving, loving, gratitude, sharing, caring, and more. All those beautiful emotions is what makes the holiday season extra magical. When we turn to material items to give us the joy and happiness during these holidays, we often can be disappointed in the long run. While material item can give you a rush of happiness, it is not always long lasting. One way to get a long lasting rush of those magical feelings is giving back to your community. Doing good things for other people can fight off feelings of depression, anxiety, anger, and stress. There is also research that says it can boost your self esteem and make you more confident. The holidays are a perfect time to start a RAOK list, also known as RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS list. A RAOK list is a like check list of good things to do to give back to your community. As we said before, the holiday season is about giving, loving, gratitude, sharing, and caring, and your ROAK list will spread those feelings to you and your community. Keep reading to learn how to create your own RAOK list.
Since, it can be hard to come up with ideas for a random acts of kindness we have come up with a list of ideas to get you started this holiday season.
Volunteer at a shelter
Compliment a stranger
Send a care package to a loved one
Donate old toys to a toy drive
Bake Christmas cookies for your neighbor or friends
Christmas carol at a nursing home
Leave a generous tip
Buy someone's lunch
Make someone laugh
Offer to give someone a hug (everyone needs a good hug)
Write you friends a "thank you for being you" letter
Show your gratitude to a loved one
Cook someone dinner (either your family or a friend, ect...)
Tell someone you love them
Pick up liter
Draw/paint a picture for a friend or family member
Call an old friend to catch up
Set up a free little library in your area (check our blog post: LITTLE LIBRARY)
Donate extra food or clothes for people in need this holiday season
Donate your old books to a nearby library
Make a bird feeder for the birds in your area
STEPS TO CREATE YOU RAOK LIST
You can pick a few things off the list we provided above and add some items you come up with, you can use our full list, or you can come up with all of the items yourself. No matter how you make your list, it will be amazing for you and your community.
Once you have decided what will go on your list, you can begin to build your list. There are a few options to do this. One, you can make check list. Two, you can add items to your planner and plan out which days you will do each act of kindness. Three, you can write a list, cut out each item on the list, and put it into a jar. This way you would pick an item from the jar to do each day.
Now that you have picked a way to create your RAOK list, you can begin. You can either do one each day, one every other day, one once a week, or whatever works best for you.
We hope you are able to create a RAOK list and that it will spread joy, happiness, love, care, gratitude, and more throughout you and your community this holiday season.
A DAILY REMINDER FOR EVERYONE: Today is a new day, you don't need to harp on things of the past.
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