Good things happen to good people. That’s something I believe to be true and something I often think of in the back of my mind on a daily basis. Most people are familiar with the saying “bad things happen to good people,” but bad things happen to everyone, regardless of what type of person you are. It’s inevitable. However, I do think that more good things than bad will happen to you if you put out more positive actions than negative ones in life. Now, I’m not much of a believer in anything, but I do think that what goes around comes around. If you’re constantly beating other people down or taking advantage of others, I think the same thing (if not worse) will eventually happen to you. There’s no reason for this to be my way of thinking. I never had any breaking moment that made me realize that what you put out into the universe is what you’ll receive back. I came to the conclusion that there are better things to do with my time than to hold onto small details, or to be negative.
For example, I also walk dogs on top of my job at the newspaper. When I was home over the break, I had a client who asked me to stay with the dog all day. I was dog-sitting at the house for 11 hours. We didn’t come up with an appropriate price beforehand, and so at the end of the day we had that awkward little exchange about how much would be appropriate. She offered $15 an hour, which I politely declined, telling her that $10 an hour was more than enough. I napped with the dog, took a shower, and just hung out. I wasn’t going to charge her over $150 for that. It wasn’t about the money to me. I enjoyed spending time with the dog. He was a skittish rescue, part Golden Retriever, part German Shepherd and some other small breed mixed. It wasn’t a difficult task for her to ask of me. I’m not saying all of this to boast and tell everyone what a great person I am­­­—the point of this example is to show that greed shouldn’t take over your mind. In 10 years from now, if I’m paying back my student loans, I’m not going to hound myself for not taking more money. It doesn’t have to be so important to me. I ended up watching that same dog every single day I had left of the break, and they plan on asking me to see him when I’m home in the summer. That’s huge for someone who doesn’t know what kind of clients they might have (or not have) with a business such as dog-walking. Good things happen to you when you do good things in the world.
Even if there’s no “payout” from your good deeds in life, what are you going to lose? Choosing to be kind isn’t going to hurt you or ever come back to bite you. I hope my message doesn’t become distorted over these pages. Kindness makes the world go round. There’s no particular reason for you to be kind, but it’s never hurt anyone.