Wednesday, October 3, 2012

How it started

Ask most of my friends and family and they'd tell you that I've always had a "thing" for spontaneous giving: making things for people, leaving random, anonymous gifts behind, etc.  It was partly this nature of mine that inspired a friend of mine to nominate me for a makeover and photography session, which I ended up winning.  It was an awesome feeling to know that I inspired someone.  

But in Dec 2010, actress Kellie Martin challenged the Twitterverse to join her in a month of Extreme Giving (#extremegiving), during which participants were to find one thing to do, every day, to take care of someone or something else.  Had I been smarter back then, I might have started the blog already, but hindsight is always the smarter part of me.

At least I was able to go back and capture images of my Tweets during that month:

 


 
















































































I really enjoyed the challenge of finding something every day to do, figuring out ahead of time what I could imagine next.

When Dec 2011 rolled around, I knew I wanted to do something like it but not exactly the same, and thus The Friendly Beasts project was launched (inspired by one of my favorite holiday carols!)

Now, Dec 2012 approaches and I'm challenged yet again.  I'm taking the RAOK inspiration from author Erin McHugh and actor Misha Collins, but what can I do with it?  Will it be too similar to the Extreme Giving challenge?  Do I jot down ideas as they come to me and put them in a Kindness jar, and then draw them "randomly" come December?  Do I follow Erin's steps and wait to see what each day brings, looking for opportunities that present themselves?  What if the "only" thing that presents itself on a given day is opening the door for someone?  Is that enough to count??

Oh the dilemma.  At least I have time to think about it.  How delightful is the imagining!

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