Dear Editor:

At the beginning of a new year, people start to make the notorious New Year’s resolutions. You see them everywhere: in magazines, on television shows, online advertisements, and on many other platforms. Common resolutions include losing weight, drinking more water, trying to spend less money, etc. Although these resolutions would help an individual’s health or financial status, a more productive resolution would be one that positively affects many different people. Not only do most resolutions usually only impact a single person, but they are also usually abandoned shortly after the new year commences because they are generally difficult and time-consuming to accomplish.

For a more advantageous resolution this year, start practicing being kind to people by doing at least one act of kindness every day. These acts are so easy to and they can make someone’s day or even better the planet. Some acts of kindness include giving someone you know (or even strangers) compliments telling someone how important they are to you or even doing something as simple as recycling your used plastic bottles and cans to improve the health of the planet. The simple act of complimenting someone makes the person receiving the compliment have a boost of confidence, which some people desperately need. Not only do compliments have positive benefits for the person receiving them, but there are benefits for the people giving them. They make the person feel as if they are contributing to someone’s happiness and making them feel better about themselves. Complimenting someone takes only seconds. Seconds to improve someone’s day and only seconds to make yourself feel great as well.

Making an act of kindness every day is such an easy resolution to accomplish, unlike other common ones that are eventually abandoned and have no use for the planet as a whole. Imagine if a large number of people decided to pursue this resolution. Doing this would make it so more people would feel the positive effects of the resolution, rather than other common resolutions that only pertain to a single person. If many people even just tried this resolution, the world would become a kinder place.

Kylie Brown

Boothbay