For this week's solo episode, I address the 'elephant in the room' and remind everyone that my end goal for anyone listening to this podcast is to feel uplifted and inspired. I also talk about how utilizing a genuine 'Thank You' can be a great way to stay engaged with service or in your community when you don't have as much time or resources to give.
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For this week's solo episode, I address the 'elephant in the room' and remind everyone that my end goal for anyone listening to this podcast is to feel uplifted and inspired. I also talk about how utilizing a genuine 'Thank You' can be a great way to stay engaged with service or in your community when you don't have as much time or resources to give.
Follow the podcast on social media:
Instagram
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Melissa: You're listening to the Do Something More podcast. And this is episode four, using a thank you to engage with service. Welcome to the Do Something More Podcast, a service oriented show where we highlight the helpers who inspire us all to do something more. I'm your host, Melissa Draper. Thank you so much for being here. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Do Something More podcast. And today is a solo episode. It's just going to be me talking about a few things around service and the power of a thank you in helping us stay engaged with service. But the first thing I wanted to talk about was kind of address the elephant in the room. I don't always love that phrase, but I'm going to use it now. The elephant in the room of this podcast and something that I often thought about as I started working on it was as I shared all the good things that others were doing and the good ways they were giving back to their communities. I didn't want anyone that ever listened to this to feel overwhelmed and maybe especially I'm saying this from the perspective of a mother of a woman because that's who I am and that's how the lens that I see life. But I didn't want any mother out there who is working so hard each day that she can to take care of her family or do the things that fall in her realm of responsibility. Or any man too. Any father that maybe has felt those feelings too. Or really anyone that's kind of maybe going through a time in life that you're just hanging on or you're making it through each day. I didn't want anyone to feel overwhelmed or feel like, wow, there's all these amazing things that all these people are doing and I'm not and I don't feel like I could ever measure up. That is not the goal of this podcast. And they share that because I know those feelings. I'm familiar with those feelings, and I think, especially in this world we live in with social media and other forms of media, that we're always seeing different things. And when we're going through a rough time, when life is hard, when we're struggling mentally or emotionally, it's not an uncommon thing to feel those feelings sometimes and to just feel like everyone else has it together or they're doing amazing things and your life can feel so just life. Just the plain usual things that we do, which that's what most of us do, right? Most of us are just living day to day and trying to do the good things that we can do. So that's not the goal of this podcast. And if you are feeling like that, maybe this isn't something I should say as someone just venturing into starting this, but I give you permission to turn it off if this is ever making you feel that way. To take a deep breath, to go enjoy your family, enjoy some time with a friend, give the people that you care about and love in your life. Tell them that you do. And spend time with them. And take a break from the media. I've had to do that many times myself, and I'm sure we'll have to many times in the future, so I give you full permission to do that. But I do also want to say that the goal of this podcast is to highlight all these good things because I think we do need to see and hear about the good things that others are doing. But there is no way that one person listening to this can engage with everything that I offer or share on this show. I'm having a goal of dropping a new episode each week. And so if you think about every week, a new person being shared that's doing some amazing things in the world, or me sharing tips and ideas I don't think obviously would apply all the time to any one person. No person can be engaged doing that many things, right? And so that is not the goal of this. It's to just sit back at times and enjoy the stories that are being shared and enjoy hearing about what others are doing and the satisfaction that it brings to them and the good things that they've been able to do and the difference they've been able to make in the world. But I do have that goal also to inspire us all to do something more. And so I do hope at times that if something does apply to you or an idea comes, that you will feel inspired as a listener of this show, that you will feel inspired to appreciate the awesome things others are doing, but also maybe at times to act on the good things that you are already feeling pulled to do. I've sometimes been accused of having a little bit of a Pollyanna view on life or on individuals, and so this might be a bit of a Pollyanna view, but I truly believe that every person has desires within them to do good and to make a difference and to give back. And I believe every person has little thoughts or ideas or inspiration that comes to them in small ways to do that within their lives, whether it's just within their families or with neighbors and friends or in their larger communities. I do believe everyone gets those little pulls at times. And so this show hopefully maybe something that you've already felt pulled to do. It's not meant to continually put new ideas there, but to just take something that's already there within your heart and give you ideas on how to act on that. Because I know sometimes it's hard for us to take the ideas and the thoughts that we have and move them to action. And so that's another thought for this show. So those are my goals. So I had to address that little elephant in the room a little bit, I think, because my goal is inspiration with this show. And I just wanted to recognize those that may have battled those feelings in the past of not measuring up or not being enough, that I am familiar with those. I've battled those as well. But I think we can appreciate and see the light that others are shining on the world and recognize that it doesn't diminish the light that we are sharing as well. So recognize the good things that you are doing and they may look different than all the things that get featured on this show, but they are good and they're making a difference. So on that note, though, I did want to share this other idea about thank yous. But first I want to proceed it with a little analogy. And I actually thought of this just a couple of weeks ago as I was doing one of my workouts. I like to exercise and work out each morning. And I was realizing is most of the time, if you go to a class at the gym or you watch a class and use a class from the Internet or have a program that you're doing and you're working out exercising. Maybe you're lifting weights, maybe you're doing yoga. Maybe it's cardio. Lots of different programs out there that you can do to exercise. Oftentimes the trainer that is leading individuals through that exercise will feature and show you a modifier. So they'll show you the exercise or the pose or the routine that they're going to go through, and then they always have someone there or they might demonstrate a way to modify it. And the thing I love about trainers that are these peppy, energetic trainers, right, to keep you motivated and encouraged while you're working out and feeling like you might die. They always say with the modifier, it's not less than, right? And they'll look if they have an individual they're modifying, they'll be like, look at her, she's still sweating, she's still working out, she's still here. And so the modifier isn't like a less than or you don't measure up or you're not enough. The modifier is simply a way to keep you engaged with the workout at the level that you currently are. And when I've done workouts, sometimes that changes from day to day or week to week. Sometimes I can't lift as heavy as I did before or do as many repetitions, or do it in the same way with something like yoga. I often have to always use the modifier because I'm not a very flexible person. But I love the idea that we can use that modifier to stay engaged with the workout. We don't have to stop just because we're not capable of doing the top level that's being demonstrated. So the modifier is a way to stay engaged. And so I thought about this in terms of service, right? I think there's times in our lives, like I mentioned earlier, or life might feel hard or we're just getting by day to day, but we may still have that desire to stay engaged in some way with our community or with wanting to help and give back. And so I think there are ways that we can modify our service at different times in our life and in the things that we're doing. And one of the ways that I think is a great modifier and has been for me in the past, is the wonderful art of a thank you, either in the form of a note or vocally or a message or a text or whatever. The classic thank you note and acknowledging the work or the things that someone has done. Now, obviously, thank yous are something that we can do anytime and probably even I should say should be doing regularly, right, to the people in our lives that serve and help us. But I also love the idea of using and utilizing the thank you as this service modifier as a way to keep us engaged in those things we want to do when we can't maybe give as much as we would like to. So let me give an example of that though, so you just have more of an idea of what I'm talking about. So as an example, after I had my third child, I had a lot of different health struggles and issues and things that popped up and along with that some mental health things. And so I got to a point where I had to cut almost everything extra out of my life and really just focus on healing and focus on taking care of my family and the few things that were necessary. And at this time, I had small children in the elementary school and I love volunteering in the elementary school, I still love volunteering in the elementary school and giving my time there, but I just could not at this time. It wasn't practical for me to be doing at this time. I still had young children at home as well and it wasn't something that was possible at this stage of my life at that time. And so I remember not really feeling guilty. I know sometimes we talk about feeling guilty, but I just felt bad because I wanted to give back and help in that community in that way and I just couldn't do it at the level that I wanted to or I had been accustomed to doing. And so at that time, I remember getting this idea of using thank yous and utilizing that to help me still stay engaged in the school community, helping in a way that I wanted to, but that was realistic for what I could do at that time. And so what I did was as an example, I remember one mom texting me a picture because she gone on the field trip, and my child had ended up in her field trip group, and I felt bad I couldn't go on the field trip. But she texted me this picture, and I remember replying to that text and just telling her thank you so much for taking the time out of her day to volunteer and to go and to make that a fun experience. And when my child got home and told me about it, told her some of the things that they had told me they enjoyed, and just sent a genuine thank you text in reply to her. I remember making sure I wrote thank yous to the teachers in the schools. And I've always tried to do that to some level, but I really tried to do it often then or to other people in the school that maybe sometimes get overlooked, some of the texts or the custodians to just take a moment to write them a thank you note. The bus drivers for the work that they did for my children and serving them each day. I remember another time, a mom that was involved in the PTA and putting on a lot of great projects and posted a picture on social media about something she'd done. And I made it a point to reply to that post and give her a genuine thank you and say thank you for providing and working hard to make this experience possible for my children. I know a lot of work went into it and I so appreciate it. And this was a way I found to engage in a serviceable way with my school community to still feel like I could give back in the way I wanted to. But in a way, again, that was possible because physically and with time, I could not. At that time, I could not do those things, but I could send thank yous. And it really helped me realize that there are a lot of different ways to modify our service in that way. So instead of feeling sad or upset that we can't be engaged, maybe there's another way we can think of to be engaged. And a thank you is always a way to be engaged and to give back and to serve. I still love using thank you notes just on a regular basis. But just again, I have four busy, active children, and there is no way I can be involved in all the things that they're doing, or I can give back or volunteer with all the things that get presented on my plate. But it really doesn't take me much time at all to send a text or a message or even a note to someone that is choosing to be engaged in the ways they feel important to them and to tell them thank you for the good things that they are doing for my children and for our family. And then I can still stay engaged with the things that are important to me and have that experience as well. So I encourage you to, if you want to have a simple way to engage with service, engage with giving back, think of someone who has helped or your family in some way or helped you as an individual or helped your children or anyone else, and give them a thank you. Give them a thank you for their service and their time. And sometimes it's the people that kind of go unnoticed. Like in my example, I gave bus drivers and custodians those types of people that are working with our kids in the schools each day. I don't know that they often get a thank you for the work that they do, but it's good work and necessary work, just as necessary as that what our teachers are doing as well. That's my encouragement this week. And also, if you're thinking, does a thank you note really make a difference? Does that really matter? If I just say thank you on a social media post, does that really mean something? And I can say as someone who has been on the other side of being involved in some of those things, that yes, it does matter. Even a simple little thank you with the smiley face matters. It makes a difference. A lot of the things I've been involved in that someone gave me a thank you for, I would have done either way, whether someone told me they appreciated it or not. But getting a thank you afterwards and having someone recognize that, it's always a lift, it always makes you feel seen and worthy and appreciated and it is never a bad idea. I don't think anyone has ever been upset or not liked the idea of getting a genuine thank you from somebody. So there you have it. Go give a thank you to someone. Write them a note, send them a text, let them know how you appreciate them and what they've done for you, and use that to engage with your community and with those around you. So thank you so much for being here this week and for listening this first month of the podcast. Almost month of the podcast. Appreciate every listen. Again, as a reminder, you can follow us on Instagram at Dosomethingmore podcast or on Facebook at the Do Something More podcast. And also you can subscribe wherever you listen to this podcast on your listening app. Feel free to subscribe to the show as well and get each new episode as it drops each week. So thank you so much for being here. We'll see you next time.