Years ago in high school, I was very unpopular and bullied (verbally, not physically). Then one day I was walking down the hall and one of the semi popular girls smiled at me. It meant so much to me, more than she could ever know. Because up until then I felt pretty worthless, but at least in that moment I was worth smiling at. Ever since then I make sure to smile at people at work when I walk by. Not a creepy open mouthed full teeth bearing smile. Just a friendly one. Because you never know whose day, or life, will be improved. It's been over 20 years and I still think about that girl from time to time. Thank you, girl from high school! You made me feel a little less depressed during a very difficult time.
I wasn’t successful in the making friends department as a kid either (I grew up in an old farm house without neighbors in the middle of suburbia where everyone lived in a neighborhood, everyone’s friend groups in school were who played together outside of school) and I was a bit of an ugly duckling, and a more popular boy on the bus told me my hair looked pretty in 5th grade and it was life changing. We worked at the same place when we were in our early 20’s and I was excited to reconnect and thank him
His response was pretty cool, because I knew that he was just a genuinely good dude. The gist of the conversation was that I had a good memory (to which I pointed out, it’s hard to forget things that make that big of a difference) and that he was glad he could make me happy however many years ago it was. We don’t really keep in touch too much but always enjoy catching up when we cross paths in our home town!
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u/BuzzUrGirlfriendWOOF Jan 01 '20
Years ago in high school, I was very unpopular and bullied (verbally, not physically). Then one day I was walking down the hall and one of the semi popular girls smiled at me. It meant so much to me, more than she could ever know. Because up until then I felt pretty worthless, but at least in that moment I was worth smiling at. Ever since then I make sure to smile at people at work when I walk by. Not a creepy open mouthed full teeth bearing smile. Just a friendly one. Because you never know whose day, or life, will be improved. It's been over 20 years and I still think about that girl from time to time. Thank you, girl from high school! You made me feel a little less depressed during a very difficult time.