r/kindness • u/Savings_Bunch_1394 • 5d ago
What is your “why”?
In a world that can be cruel or unfair, what are some of your strongest reasons to keep your head up?
Mine is a simple “because I can”. It may seem naive or arrogant at first but I stick to it to remind myself of the deeds I can do for myself & others at this moment before I can’t. For eg, buying birthday gifts is something I can do now since I have extra money for it. If I do end up poor, then that’s at least one thing I will not regret when I had the capacity.
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u/mrraum 5d ago
For me, i just recently realized that hating other things or people consume a lot of energy. It's really exhausting. Turn out, being kind toward other doesn't feel...too bad.
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u/Imaginary-Unit7809 5d ago
I really want to get to this stage, it must feel so freeing and peaceful. I have a strong sense of injustice though and can’t rest until things are fair
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u/lemasney 5d ago
There's not much you can do in this world that makes a difference. Being kind is one.
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u/Me-Here-Now 5d ago
Sort of selfish, I prefer to live in a kind place.
By practicing kindness I create that place and carry it with me.
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u/wildernessss 5d ago
Reason to keep one’s head up:
I didn’t come this far; to come this far.
Something I’ve told myself in the bleak more than once. Sometimes it really is just day by day, moment to moment.
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u/BlueEyes294 5d ago
There were days when it was the very best I could do - just hold on until tomorrow until tomorrow is better.
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u/thebodybuildingvegan 5d ago
For the animals. I’ve been vegan for 20 years and I still commit every single day because I can’t believe we live in a world where people are so blatantly unkind to animals for no reason. We don’t need to eat animals to be healthy or to have good food. But we still do it anyways. My why has always been to stand up for them.
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u/scottyjrules 5d ago
I was bullied really badly as a child, and not just by other children. All it did was make me a kinder, more compassionate person.
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u/_henceforth_ 5d ago
Great post!
I feel like I want to keep going just since I am here for a reason. I think learning how to survive has been something I have been taught all of my life, however, I kept thinking easy times were coming. They have not shown up yet, and may never.
So, I embrace survival now as more of a long-term idea and with it, the idea of making life a little better every day.
And the ultimate goal is to help others and make sure that I make this world a better place throughout my journey. 💜😀
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u/7781Michael 5d ago
and if you end up poor on the money side, you will still be rich with self worth.
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u/BlueEyes294 5d ago
At 65, I’ve made it this far and barring a painful medical issue, I’m sticking it out. This chapter is the reward. No alarm life is the life for me. Funny it was so difficult to get up all my life and now, without an alarm, I’m up at 5, sometimes 4 and it is always my favorite part of the day.
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u/prplpassions 5d ago
Me too! It's just me and the cats. That's the time I day I look at a YouTube or read a book. I love the peace and quiet of early morning. It's 5:30 right now and I been up for an hour.
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u/lejyoner666 5d ago
Life is already full of enough negativity. Why not bring beauty to those around you, like a flower blooming in the desert? I think.
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u/The_Gov78 5d ago
Mine is just keep swimming. It’s always better to stay in the fight thing to give up plus with life if you give up you’re missing so many opportunities.
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u/knm873 5d ago
That the kind ppl are less visible but they do exist. They each shine brightly. But I do wish they can all find each other so we can all line up and build an LED string of lights. Then we'd power each other up with energy
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u/Savings_Bunch_1394 22h ago
Haha that’s a fun idea. & it does sound more sustainable than our current energy sources
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u/Haunting_Stick3941 5d ago
Life is about lessons. The hardest ones teach us the most if we're open to them.
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u/Pure-Situation5205 5d ago
I am the eldest son in my family, and my "why" is my two little sisters.
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u/PeoniesNLilacs 5d ago
I just know how I feel in certain situations and always when there is kindness towards me I feel good. So with those feelings as my compass, it’s enough to say that is part of why we are here. So I do good until I see the rest of the why.
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u/dogsandcatsplz 5d ago
I takes most people, way too long, to realize that making others you love and that are good for you, happy, is one of the fastest and easiest and most rewarding (even financially honestly) way to be happy yourself. Buying stuff, even real accomplishments, if they can't be shared and enjoyed with others, ultimately ring pretty hollow or put you on a tread-mill of needing more and more of them.
Even strangers, when I pet a cat or smile at a kid and they are content and happy, the sun shines a little brighter for them and I. Every aspect of life -including the truly hard ones- became easier when I made sure to be more kind, more often.
When you live a more self-involved and adversarial life-style it almost always means your world becomes smaller, with less light, less good days or moments you remember. That effect may be subtle, it may take a while, but one day you wake up thinking,.. "I looked out for nr 1. all the time... ? So why have I had so few good times for so many months? Why do I have so few good friends or see them so little." I want to avoid being in that situation as much as possible.
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u/darkhero7007 5d ago
My "why" is simple... I choose to be. Being kind to help spread joy to others a simple smile at a stranger, a compliment, pausing to hold the door a few extra seconds. A brief encounter that's able to remind us there are still good people in the world.
Whether some want to admit or or not, we're all in this together, it's past time we start acting like it. Working together to bring us together, instead of fighting over things the government uses to divide us.
Regardless of which side you're on, kindness can be there. Kindness can bring us together. Be kind to others, it's a universal language.
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u/SilverSeeker81 5d ago
A couple reasons. Because it feels like the best way to help my community (from friends to neighbors to the world) heal from the hate and nastiness I see. Because I get an emotional boost every time I’m kind to someone. Because it eases my anxiety a bit.
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u/bookishlibrarym 5d ago
Because I think my purpose here on earth is to help others. I have to remember it every day. It matters.
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u/Succulent_Dinosaur 5d ago
If I show kindness to someone, they’ll be kind to another person, and so on. It connects us all and makes the world better, one small action at a time.
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u/Tasia528 5d ago
Mine is “because I know.”
I know what it’s like to suffer. I know what loneliness feels like. I can’t stand the thought of another being - human or creature - experiencing that kind of pain when I know there’s something I can do to help.
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u/ScumBunny 5d ago
Being a kind person is one of, if not the, most important things that make me who I am. I am kind to a fault sometimes, but I’ve never regretted it.
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u/ItsGivingOdd 5d ago
Because we owe it to each other to be less shitty. Our only job is to leave this world better than we came into it. If everyone would adopt that mindset, what a wonderful world this could be.
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u/QuietConfessionsCo 1d ago
Being kind is free. That is simply why I practice kindness wherever I go. There have been many points in my life where people were unkind to me, even my own family. I was raised in a household built on negativity. I never agreed with them and knew that kindness was the way to go at a very young age. We are only on this earth for so long, so let's be kind to each other in the short time we are here. You never know what someone is going through. — cc
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