25 Basically Effortless Ways To Be The Change This World Needs
None of which require any money or more than a few seconds of time and effort.
weheartit The other day I met up with my friend Paige at a coffee shop. She went to the bathroom, came back, and said, “So, the toilet paper roll was empty, and I almost didn’t put a new roll on, but then I thought, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’ and I changed it.” She beamed triumphantly, and I said, “Paige, you’re a hero.”
Paige’s pronouncement might have been tongue-in-cheek, but it got me thinking. Sure, there are a lot of big, dramatic ways to help improve our scary, uncertain world, and we should all get more involved in volunteering, activism, and protesting accordingly.
But there are also tons of little things we can do that definitely won’t save the world, but it will make it a slightly more pleasant place, and hey, that’s important too.
After all, wouldn’t the world TRULY be a better place if more people were willing to change the freakin’ toilet paper roll?
With that in mind, here are 25 other teeny-tiny, itty-bitty ways to be the change you want to see in the world, none of which require any money or more than a few seconds of time and effort.
1. Don’t post that picture where you look amazing and your friend looks horrible.
2. Wash the mug that’s been festering in the office sink for a week now.
3. When someone lets you merge in front of them on the highway, give them a super enthusiastic “thank you” wave.
4. Also let someone merge in front of you on the highway.
5. Straighten your bills before handing them to the cashier.
6. Call your grandma.
7. Resist the urge to correct the grammar error in someone’s Facebook status update.
8. Clean up your dog’s poop, even if they pooped in a kind of out-of-the-way spot and no one is watching.
9. Say sorry first.
10. Stack your empty plates before the server gets to your table.
11. Don’t call out your BFF on her latest ridiculous crush. At least for now. Give her two weeks to swoon and obsess before saying, “Really, though?”
12. Remove your hair from the shower drain.
13. Stay home from work if you’re sick.
14. Let shorter people stand in front of you at a concert (only if they’re nice).
15. Turn off your phone when you’re hanging out with a friend.
16. Let the person in the middle seat have the arm rest.
17. Next time your coworker looks sick or tired, maybe don’t mention it.
18. Make enough coffee for everyone.
19. Tell a stranger who’s struggling to parallel park how much room they have behind them.
20. Pick up litter.
21. Talk to the shy person at the party.
22. Thinking about taking someone’s offhand remark personally? Choose not to.
23. Turn down your headphones on public transportation.
24. Text a friend and be like, “Just FYI I’m really glad we’re friends.”
25. Recycle, for fuck’s sake.