February 2024: 29 Days of Love and Kindness
Welcome to a month-long celebration of love, kindness, and the power of small gestures. For the past two years, I challenged myself to write a love note a day for 28 days straight. It truly filled my heart and so many of you joined me last year too.
This year I put together a 29 Days of Love and Kindness Calendar for us to do one kind thing each day for ourselves and others. Kindness to me means 1: love in action 2: heartwarming generosity 3: thoughtfulness and 4: the most powerful way to change the world.
This pairs nicely with the RAK Foundation Random Acts of Kindness Week (February 11th-17th). Follow along with my calendar below or get creative and make your own! The goal is to be as thoughtful and kind as possible for 29 days straight.
Are you with me?
February 1st: Compliment someone—not their looks, but something special about them. Something like: you are a gift, you inspire me, you give me hope, you are brave, your love feels like sunshine, you have the best laugh, you are a badass, etc. These are all cards in my shop too if you want to send a compliment to someone.
February 2nd: February is Hearth Month and it’s National Wear Red Day to raise awareness about heart disease. Heart disease is still the number one killer of men and women. Heart attack and stroke symptoms for women can differ from men. Watch and share this short video for more information.
February 3rd: Tomorrow is “Thank a Mail Carrier Day” but there’s no mail on Sundays, so use today to slip a thank you note into your mailbox or tell your mail carrier how much you appreciate their service.
February 4th: February is Black History Month (and Rosa Parks was born today!). Take time to read or watch something new about black history. Equal Justice Initiative has an “On This Day” calendar of racial injustices. Or consider planning a trip to an educational museum. I highly recommend these museums: National Museum of African American History in Washington DC, National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia, and The Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.
February 5th: Time to schedule at least one doctor’s appointment you’ve been putting off! An annual physical, pap smear, colonoscopy, cancer screening, eye exam, teeth cleaning—I’m sure you need at least one of these.
February 6th: Meditate for 10+ minutes. Meditation has many benefits. You can find videos on YouTube or download the Headspace app. Or just close your eyes and take some deep breaths for a few minutes. I also have a blog post with peaceful visualizations.
February 7th: It’s National Send a Card to a Friend Day! Snail mail is always an extra little pick-me-up that we all need. Write a message in a card for a friend and let them know how much they mean to you. If you need to stock up on cards, I recommend these 5 colorful compliment cards.
February 8th: Invite someone to coffee, lunch, or dinner today or plan a future date that you can both look forward to.
February 9th: Support a small business. Do something special like leave a 5-star review, post about them on your social media, and/or buy one of their products! If you’re local to Knoxville, Tennessee, come see me at the Dogwood Arts House & Garden Show Maker Market today through Sunday.
February 10th: Happy Lunar New Year, and the year of the Wood Dragon! Take a little time today to read about and celebrate this holiday.
February 11th: Dance to your favorite song. Or dance during Usher’s Super Bowl half-time show tonight!
February 12th: Write a thank you note to someone. In the spirit of love and kindness, I adore this quote card from R. Clift that says, “It is the kindness of your soul and the love within your heart that matter above all else.”
February 13th: It’s Galentine’s Day and Fat Tuesday! Send $5 to one of your girlfriends for their favorite treat or coffee drink. You can send electronically or buy a gift card and mail it, or pay for the next person in line at your local coffee shop.
February 14th: It’s Valentine’s Day! Tell someone you love them today. Valentine’s Day dates alllll the way back to the 14th century or earlier so don’t fall for the line that it was just made up by greeting card companies. If you want to be entertained, read my blog post about the first mention of Valentine’s Day in one of Chaucer’s poems.
February 15th: Write a love letter to yourself. This could be with pen and paper or check out futureme.org where you can write and send a letter to your future self.
February 16th: Become an organ or bone marrow donor. You can join the bone marrow donor registry or donate to the National Marrow Donor Program at bethematch.org.
February 17th: Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day! Do something kind for someone today. Pick something on this calendar to do again or choose one of these other ideas: send an encouraging email, give someone a long hug, offer to babysit or cook a meal, pay for someone’s groceries, volunteer at a local food pantry or animal shelter.
February 18th: Volunteer or donate to a non-profit. If you’re not sure where to start, I found my longest volunteer opportunity (5 years!) on volunteermatch.com. They have virtual opportunities too. Or donate money to your favorite non-profit. Here are some of my favorite non-profits to support.
February 19th: Message an old friend. In the past couple of years, I’ve reconnected with a couple of very old friends I lost touch with. Send a text, email, or a letter to someone from high school, college, or a previous workplace. It might be just the message they needed and maybe it will spark a connection again.
February 20th: Today is Snuggle a Pet Day, so I had to include snuggling with your dog, cat, or other animal here. If you don’t have a pet (or a pet to borrow), watch some cute animal videos. I promise this is the best use of time.
February 21st: Stretch for 15+ minutes. We should all be doing this daily, but I’m very bad at it, so I’m putting it here for all of us.
February 22nd: It’s National Walking the Dog Day and even if you don’t have a dog, try to get outside and take at least a 20 minute walk. Fresh air can do wonders.
February 23rd: Call an older relative. Maybe an Aunt, Uncle, Grandparent, or just someone who feels like home. I love talking to my 99-year-old Great Aunt and I know it makes her day to hear from loved ones.
February 24th: Disconnect from the Internet for the day. I tried to pick a weekend for this, but feel free to swap this with any day that you know you can resist using the Internet for work or scrolling social media. Take a hike, read a book, journal, nap, organize a closet, color, play a game, meditate.
February 25th: Clean and organize a room or drawer. Get a head start on Spring cleaning!
February 26th: Give someone flowers. Pick up a $10 bouquet at the grocery store, hit up your local flower shop, or send some of my favorite flowers from Farmgirl Flowers.
February 27th: Share a good book or recipe with someone and include a note about why that book or recipe is special to you or why you wanted to share it with that person.
February 28th: Surprise a neighbor with a treat or small gift. Drop off a card, baked goods, a little bag of treats, or send one of my neighbor prints.
February 29th: It’s Leap Day! Take a leap towards your soul’s purpose or your dreams and make a bucket list of things you hope to do in your lifetime. Then let’s start checking some things off this year!
I'm filled with so much gratitude for each person who joins this February challenge. Your commitment to spreading love and kindness with me will stretch far beyond these 29 days.
What other small gestures would you add? Comment below so we'll all have some future ideas. Until next time, keep radiating love and kindness, my friends! 💕🌈✨
With love,
Alison Rose
Social media: @alisonrosevintage
Shop: alisonrosevintage.com
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