The coronavirus pandemic has certainly disrupted many people’s lives, creating additional stress that has negatively impacted some people more than others. As restrictions increased, social interactions decreased and people were forced to isolate in their homes. With less people leaving their homes and doing activities outside of the house, many small businesses were forced to close, some permanently. This disruption and stress from the pandemic has left people vulnerable and feeling out of control. Many people have lost loved ones to the virus. Others have lost their source of income, which meant losing their home and struggling to put food on the table in some cases. The lack of physical face to face human interaction left people feeling lonely, which led to high levels of anxiety and worse mental health.
When everything started to fall apart, people all over the country recognized this and started to come together and find ways to support communities during the pandemic through kindness. With the increasingly busy lives and a high amount of pressure to get things done in today’s world, many people often forget to stop and think about others. The coronavirus did just that, it made us pause and think about how supporting each other can help bring us together to try and combat the pandemic. Kindness has been shown to stimulate the production of serotonin and lower stress levels, which is extremely important in times of high stress. The pandemic has brought to our attention just how important kindness is to others.
Here are some of the ways kindness has been spread during the pandemic and some acts of kindness that you can do.
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When masks became part of our everyday life, many people stepped up to the plate by donating their time and sewing machines to make masks to donate to healthcare works, restaurant employees, the elderly and many others. Those who sold masks used the funds to donate to local organizations. It is a year later and people are still doing that.
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Senior citizens are one of the most vulnerable groups, especially during the pandemic. People came together to develop grocery delivery services for seniors who did not have family or anyone to help them get their groceries or medications. There were also initiatives to create a pen pal program, as many seniors in assisted living facilities could not see family or even interact with each other as much.
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There was an outpouring of support for healthcare workers (as there should be, those folks are amazing) and people were donating PPE, “ear savers” and medical supplies, as well as meals and cards to them.
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Restaurants have been hit extremely hard by the pandemic, many had to permanently close due to the strain and burden of covid-19 restrictions. Locals have come together to support local restaurants by ordering takeout meals a couple times a week, buying gift cards, and tipping extra.
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People throughout the United States have created care packages with food, hand sanitizer and masks to distribute to those in need.
Some random acts of kindness you can do:
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Check in on family and friends by writing a letter or card, through Facetime, Zoom, text or other means and let them know that they matter.
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Put together care packages to give to local homeless shelters or other organizations.
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“Pay it forward” Pay for the meal or drink for the person in front of you.
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Be part of a pen pal program.
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Write words of encouragement or of thanks in a card or note to somebody.
This is a tough time for everyone right now, so make sure to remind the people in your life that you care about them and that they matter. Strive to help those that have less than you and who are going through a tough time to help ease their struggles. There are a variety of ways to be kind to people and the world could use more kindness right now, so set a goal to be kind every day and make sure to have fun while making the world a better place.