A New Approach

When I first read this assignment I knew it was about to be a real struggle. I was thinking that a whole day is just insane and I would never be able to accomplish it, since being a competitive athlete it could get intense sometimes and also I’m not always the kindest person. However writing this the day after, I would say overall I did a really good job.

The day I picked was a Monday due to the fact I wanted to interact as much as possible and one off the hardest tests during this day was already in the morning, when it was time for practice. As earlier said practice usually gets heated, so for me this was the hardest challenge. Personally I could be very vulgar out on the field and say what I feel. However today I was not able to do that but at the same time I could not lie. Therefore I had to find something good in everything when I spoke that was not a lie. During this practice I had a lot of fun. I tried to compliment as much as possible and looking back I noticed how I changed my tone a lot and not the words. A common phrase is “come on” that could sound entirely different depending on your tone. So it was more my tone that changed, which was rather cool to see and how it made a difference. Overall the practice went good and it was a great experience.

A couple times a week I always communicate with my parents through Skype. They living in Sweden and me being here makes Skype an excellent tool for communication. Every single call starts off exactly the same, my dad asking me “How are you?” and I always response, good, okay or very good. A short answer is usually not true, so I decided tell in a kind way exactly how I was. I told them how my brain, heart, legs, hair, feet, and arms and so on were feeling. This was a very funny moment and my dad throughout the conversation just gave me this vague okay answers. Then when I told him the assignment he had a good laugh and thought it was a strange assignment. The rest of the call was also very interesting and instead of short answers I gave more clear and longer answers.

During this day I also decided to compliment every single person I knew or even random people that I came a crossed with and compliment them, whether it was their shoes or shirt that was nice because there is always something. While doing this it for sure put a smile on my face but also on the person that I complimented. It is a great feeling when you give something and then gets something in return. There were also a few fun moments when I complimented three people at the same time and they all looked at each other and me with a strange face that expressed “What is going on?” but I just continued with my business. The greatest moment however was when I decided to compliment my philosophy professor. He always wears a blazer and overall he is a funny guy. So after class I told him that he had a very nice blazer. He smiled and said thank you, I walked away to my next class, and then he called me again and said, “Are you trying to get an A?” but I just smiled and walked my way to the next professor.

This assignment made me realize how much does none truthful statements you do in your everyday communication. Those small short answered lies happen a lot. Being kind, useful, and true however really changed my communication. Whenever I sent a text or I spoke to someone my answers were way longer and more detailed. Also when the day was over I had mostly experienced good things throughout the day, compared to days were your behavior is not the most and you go to bed with regrets. So overall this assignment made me feel a lot better and I also think people that I interacted with during the day felt like a better person. Small kind things can make a big difference in our community that we live in.