In today's episode, we'll dive into the power of small acts of kindness and appreciation. A heartwarming story from a parent appreciation week at my child's school illustrates how even the tiniest gestures can have a profound impact. I'll challenge you to take practical steps, show appreciation to others, even amidst your busy schedule, and find joy in these small acts, creating positive energy in your life.

I'll also share a personal moment when I felt incredible helping a stranger in need despite my hectic schedule. And here's the challenge: find ways to spread joy and love by showing appreciation to others once per month or week with a simple text or gesture. Join me!

What you'll hear in this episode:

[1:25] Small acts of kindness and appreciation.

[4:00] Showing appreciation to others.

[5:35] Finding joy in small acts of kindness despite busy schedules.

[6:45] Showing appreciation and kindness to others.

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0:00

We have boxes to check things to do places to be putting another thing on our plate can feel so unrealistic. It can feel like how would I even have the time to think about that I don't even know if my kids have clean pants for school tomorrow, I totally get it. But these things build on each other. And there is this positive energy that is created. And sometimes when you accept more, but it's positive, and you're able to find the joy in life again.

0:34

Welcome to mama has goals, your weekly reminder that you shouldn't have to sacrifice your dreams to take on the role of mom. I'm Kelsey Smith, mom of two boys, wife, an entrepreneur who's passionate about helping other moms current and aspiring to reimagine mom life. I'm bringing you the resources, support and relatability to debunk that limiting belief that you may have about your ability to achieve your goals while raising a human. We're covering everything from mom guilt, marriage, relationships, careers, finances, mental health, physical health, you name it, your life doesn't have to fully shift once you become a mom, you can have it all. And we'll show you how.

1:28

Today, we're gonna talk about the little things and why they matter. Now we talk about this a lot for our own personal goals, right, we can take one little step. And that really makes a difference in the big scheme of things when we add all those steps and all those moments together. Where I also forget about this, though, is with others, when we take one small little step for someone else, when we put in this little effort that maybe we think doesn't really matter. But the fact is, in the big scheme of things it does. And we can take little steps, we can do little acts of appreciation that really make someone else feel loved, seen and appreciated. And I think that we can all slow down, take a step back and look for these opportunities. And where I was currently reminded of this is our school for our kids did a parent Appreciation Week. And they set out little snacks and bites and things to eat and drink, pickup and drop off for our kids. And this really blew me away. It was such a kind of small gesture that really meant something because it got the parents to connect at pickup and drop off. You were there for a little bit longer conversation. And it was things like breakfast sandwiches or little candies, there were some bigger things. Bagels, there was also just like cup of noodles or coffee, really fun kind of simple things that they could put out there. But this took time and money and energy to put together. And some ways I was like, how are you making all of this work? How are you doing this. But it also made me take a step back and reflect how something like that. Taking the initiative for one week for setting out a couple things to bite on or drink really made an impact to the parents. And it made me feel even more in love with where we send our kids to school. It also made me really step back and think about where can I do this? Where can I spend a couple minutes a day for a week, and really make an impact and show appreciation to people that I want to know that I appreciate them. And we're all busy, we all have things that we're trying to do. And we're probably appreciating people and showing up in ways that aren't being appreciated and aren't shown. But that's why we do it right. We want to be able to put out that effort or show that appreciation without expecting anything in return. And even when we're busy, even when we have a lot of things going on. Sometimes those small simple steps, they can really make a difference. And when we think about impacting ourselves, our lives, our families, and in turn the world. It is those little things. And so I want to challenge you as I challenge myself and our household to think about what are the little things you could do this week two, just show a little more love support and appreciation to anyone else. This could be someone that you know, it could be a stranger, it could be anything that you just take a little bit of time. And you put in a little bit of effort to show kindness and appreciation. And maybe it is towards the teachers of where kids go to school. Maybe it's to a neighbor to a family member, or it's just someone that you see at the grocery store. But how can you just pause for a minute and do little things for another person to show that appreciation? And I know as moms I can hear this in our community and you're not wrong. You're maybe saying something along the lines of I want to be appreciated. I want someone to do this for me. And I feel you and I hear you. And I know that happens. But what if we just need to go first one more time? What if you need to go first, just one more time. And you need to lead by example, what if you can show your kids how to show appreciation to someone else, how to put it together, and then explain how they can show appreciation to others, including you. What if you can do this for your husband, maybe a little bit extra, or your partner or anyone that you're sharing your relationship with, and say, You know what, I'm gonna go a little extra this month, I'm gonna go a little above and beyond, I'm gonna show appreciation just a little bit more. And I know that when we are overwhelmed, we're busy, we have boxes to check things to do places to be putting another thing on our plate can feel so unrealistic. It can feel like how would I even have the time to think about that, I don't even know if my kids have clean pants for school tomorrow, I totally get it. But these things build on each other. And there is this positive energy that is created. And sometimes when you accept more, but it's positive, and you're able to find the joy in life again, you create more time and more space in your life. And it is this really fun and different phenomena. And you can really take a moment and step back and say, wow, it only took me 10 minutes to write that card. It only took me five minutes to make that coffee or go say hello to that person or send that text message. And here's what I'm feeling after that it might not be something you receive in return, it might just be a feeling, you might just know that you did the right thing. And sometimes you don't even know, sometimes you don't know if what you did even made a difference, but you hope it did. I had a woman in our community before Christmas was looking for some gifts for her family. And she posted in a local Facebook group where I live. And she was like, these are the things I'm looking for. I haven't been able to get into a program in town. Does anyone know have any recommendations of a program that I could be a part of to receive these things, wasn't even asking for anyone in our group. But a few people recommended that we come together and put some things together. And what I noticed is all the things she needed were things I had already in my house, and I was able to put some gifts together. Now, I didn't give them to her directly, I will never know if they made an impact to her Christmas morning. I will never know if it was helpful. But did it make me feel good did the extra 10 minutes that it took to pack those things up and drop them off? Maybe more than 10 minutes, maybe 30 minutes, did that take time out of my schedule for a super busy week that I had multiple moments where I was like, I don't have time to be doing this, I need to be focusing on my family, I need to be focusing on what we have going on. I had all those thoughts. But when I look back at it, I'm so happy I did it. And I don't know if she's happy about it. I don't know if it made an impact. But it felt like the right thing to do. And those couple moments that it took to put that together, it did make a difference. And it was the right thing to do. And so when you think about your week, and you think about your month, and this year, as we go into it, I want you to just take a step back and think okay, how can I once a month or once a week, spend five minutes and send an extra text, say hello to an extra person, show appreciation, we all have hard days. And if we all could just spend a couple more minutes, acknowledging someone in our life that we love, acknowledging that person on the corner of the street or the grocery store, to be able to show a little bit more love and appreciation and joy, I really do think it would make an impact. And when we receive that we know how it feels right. So it was a good reminder for me to look for more of those opportunities. And I hope you take this on too. And if you have any ideas, please head over to our mama has schools app. It's a free app that you can download. And we have a group where we're all connected. It's called all the mamas. And I'd love for you to share in there or tag us where if you shared on your stories or anything like that, what is something that you found an opportunity to show little appreciation around? Because sometimes we need some inspiration to find these ideas. So for me, it was the parent Appreciation Week that kicked it off that made me start thinking about this. I would love for you to share in the group, something that you have either received or given that shows a little more appreciation. I'm sending you so much love mama. Remember to just take a moment, breathe, be present, go after those goals, and share a little love. There's so much more where this came from. Take the next step in download the mama high schools app or visit our web platform. real authentic, full supportive community is available at your fingertips and we can't wait We need to create space for you mama