DO Something
Claire Cameron
Once when I was in a slump, I remember a sign that said, “Do something that makes you happy.” Of course, when you are always intent on making someone else happy, you let yourself slide until the thought leaves your mind until you feel there’s something lacking in your life. Yeah…like my life is becoming dull!
I pondered where I had heard that saying before. Not as a one-sentence quote but as a list challenging me to put some color back into my life, play catch up and to connect with my fellow humans.
It began like this:
Do something for yourself. How many things do most of us do for others without ever thinking of doing something for ourselves? Wouldn’t it be nice to take a book and spend a couple hours reading and watching the waves splash the shore? Or treat yourself to that banana split and a new movie you’ve been waiting to see?
Do something for someone else without them knowing. Helping someone else out or giving them a little gift or treat of some sort not only makes it a surprise, but leaves a feeling that they are special or mean a lot to someone.
Do something you have been putting off. Remember that flower bed you’ve been wanting to plant, but you keep putting it off? You think to yourself, Oh, I’ll do it later today or I’ll do it tomorrow. And before you know it, it’s too cold and you chastise yourself for waiting. You may even feel like you were too lazy to get out the gloves and shovel. Remember the saying, “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today?”
Or that good friend that’s been very ill. The one that you’ve promised to visit or meant to send a card to, but you waited too long and then you see their obituary in today’s newspaper? But perhaps it isn’t too late to lift someone’s spirits. It may surprise you to find out it will not only do them a lot of good, but it will give you a lot of satisfaction knowing you did a lot of good also.
Do something you don’t want to do. We all have those things we hate to do. Then the longer we let it go, the bigger the impact it can have on us. From cleaning out the castaways in the basement that continue to pile up or the mounds of filing you’ve allowed to accumulate until you’ve flipped the calendar to a new year and you still haven’t been able to find that cash reimbursement check you threw in the pile six months ago!
We have calendars on our cell phones and alarms that can remind us to take care of important matters. These are easy to use and can save us time and money. And, if it is no more than a tool, we can use to keep a list of enjoyable things we can do for ourselves or others, or to meet a deadline or avoid costly mistakes due to being late, it is well worth the effort to use these types of shortcuts and techniques to bring harmony and happiness into our everyday lives.
So how about it? DO Something! Try out this list and see if it doesn’t put more meaning into your life. If nothing else, you may make someone else happy.
Last Updated on September 14, 2026 by AVC News
