At times it’s easy to feel like you don’t matter much, and there is no real purpose for your life. You may think of yourself as just one of the billions of people occupying the planet, and you might even believe that there’s nothing really special about you. Especially if you haven’t yet achieved anything that would be considered newsworthy or impressive by most people’s standards, you probably see yourself as just an “average” person who really doesn’t have much of an impact on the world around you. But the truth is, you have much more of an impact than you may realize.
In the classic movie from 1946, It’s a Wonderful Life, the angel Clarence says, “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” He says this to the story’s protagonist, George Bailey when George is contemplating ending his life.
This is such a powerful reminder that no matter how ordinary or average you think you are, everything you do and say affects the world around you in powerful ways. Every time you have encouraged someone or uplifted them in some way, every helping hand that you have offered, and every kind word that you have ever spoken has contributed something positive to the world. And when we feel like we don’t matter, or what we have to offer isn’t significant, we truly forget all the positive impacts we have made.
More importantly, those small acts of kindness create an echo as they inspire other people to then pass on the goodness to more and more people. Even very small acts of kindness can be far-reaching and make a much bigger impact than you may realize at the time.
If you have been in the habit of seeing yourself as ordinary, average, or ineffectual in any way, decide right now that you are going to be a person who leaves a lasting positive mark on the world that will still be here long after you are gone. If that sounds overwhelming, keep in mind that your achievements do not need to be big and flashy by societal standards, they only need to be meaningful to the people who are most affected by them.
Look for small ways to serve, help, uplift, and inspire the people around you. Think about ways that you can improve the world with the skills, talents, and resources that you have available to you right now. Connect with other people who also want to make a positive difference, and join forces to create something that will solve a problem or benefit the world in some way, big or small.
Even beyond your words and actions, allow your energy to be a force for good in the world. Hold yourself in a state of love and compassion as much as possible. Send good thoughts and blessings to the people around you. Celebrate and praise the success of others. Your positive emotional energy will radiate out and contribute positive energy to the world just as much as your actions will.
No matter how you choose to do it, strive to be a person who, when future generations hear your name, they will say, “Wow. That was a person who did a lot of good in the world.”
