Most people know that a person can change your life. Think about how different your life might be if you were beaten as a child or instead maybe nurtured. Imagine if you married a person who constantly enriched your life, made everything better. These things seem obvious though. A stranger could certainly change your life for the worse. I’ve been stabbed, and I don’t take anything positive away from that. It was just three guys trying to rob my wife and me. I walked away with my wallet, everything inside it, and a hand hanging open. My wife left with no physical injuries, and I got stitched up without any lasting damage, other than a cool scar and some pretty weird trauma.
I had a cashier today with a cool arm tattoo at my local Metro (grocery store). She asked me: “how is your day going so far?” Never in my entire life has a stranger asked me that question in that way. You get the repetitive “how are you” or “how are you doing today?” It shook me up a little bit, made me smile, so I said: “it’s going good so far. How about you? How is your day going?”
The dialogue felt very honest and real. She might say that to everyone, but that’s OK too. She found a way to connect by pushing a very subtle boundary. A stranger got me to emotionally connect with her, and I really appreciate that. Those subtle little things that we can do to connect with someone we don’t know can have a ripple effect.
A few kind simple words made me smile and think in a different way, think about how I can connect better with others. She left me with: “I hope the rest of your day goes well.”
It’s all very subtle and simple, and I know that people have more impactful stories than this, but anything a person can do to make another person’s life better is just awesome.
Thank you to the woman with the cool tattoo and life changing words.