The Old Friend New Again

Its been a while since I have seen my friend Danny, he wasn’t doing so good when we got out of high school, hanging out with some of the wrong people and doing not so good things. I myself almost fell into the wrong path of friendship but soon realized that wasn’t what my future wanted. I follow Danny on social media and recently saw that he posted a picture of the gym that I currently go to. I replied to his media post saying that I too go to the same gym and that we should work out together sometime. Later the next day after I get out of my practice I message him to see if he wanted to go to the gym. Since he doesn’t have a car I offered to pick him up, giving us some time to catch up with what we’re doing in life. I can already see that he wants better for himself since he got the gym pass. Going out of my way to see an old friend brought me some excitement to see how he’s doing, remaking that connection and building a better bond. Since he never really goes to the gym too often I offered to help him workout motivating him through the lifts to help him get stronger and hopefully to feel as if he’s a new man coming out of that gym. 

This wasn’t a planned act of kindness, for me, it’s more of an instinct of kindness to do good for someone else. Helping someone that I know to do better is something that I’m always doing. I want them to know that I will always be there for them even if we haven’t talked in a long while. Knowing that my friends have someone to turn to in a time of need not only makes me feel good but in contrast makes my friends feel good knowing that they have someone that will always have their back.

With the new learning of the positive psychology class, I have learned to utilize and understand specific actions and feelings towards my everyday life. One action in the lecture of 011620 I learned and understood the meaning of altruism. Altruism is the willingness to do things that bring advantages to others even if it results in a disadvantage to yourself (Finely, 2020, slide 4).  I personally love to care for others because it can have an evolutionary benefit, creating a social likability and a personal neurobiological experience of oxytocin (Finely, 2020). The doing of greatness not only makes me feel good but has the potential to motivate others to do good as well. Hero or not any act of kindness can be deemed important to the human race. People should know what constitutes to learn the positive side of things and have the practice of creating and promoting good in life. It all starts with one person creating a chain reaction of everyday do-gooders.