On Wednesday 4th December 2019, I was heading to Manchester, UK from my home town of Weybridge in Surrey to see a new client. I left home early to be on a 5.30am ish train. It was on this journey, the first one I had travelled at this time since leaving Corporate in September 2017 that I took a look around and realised how closed off we have become since the Mobile Phone/ Social Media era. Please do not get me wrong, Technology is amazing, vital to the growth of the World, however yesterday opened my eyes to the potential detriment to human evolution, which saddened me. So, in true Lucy fashion, I decided to do a challenge :)
Whilst walking from Vauxhall train station to the Victoria line, I decided to put my phone in my handbag and engage with as many people as possible. If you live in and around London, you will probably cringe at that thought ;)
A couple of smiles and a few awkward looks later, I was giggling. Totally thriving on this super early morning journey.
And then came the Tube!
I got on to a relatively busy tube. Initially I was standing, then as people left at the next stop, I sat down and smiled at a Gentleman opposite me. He smiled back and then instantly realised there was a Woman stood up with a case next to him, he tapped her to offer the seat and moved to another free seat, to which I gave him a huge grin! The Lady who had the most beautiful smile emerge following being offered a seat then went behind her and grabbed an un-used paper and handed it to a gentleman who had been looking to grab it, but had clearly been aware of the unwritten rule of invading someone else’s space on the tube. He said thank you, beamed a smile and then progress to help a passenger off of the train. What a beautiful ripple effect I thought to myself.
It was at that point the original man I smiled at came and sat next to me, with a huge smile on his face and said “thank you” I never realised the power of a smile. He continued "I will commit to doing it much more frequently from now on". It transpired, he’d been watching me as I’d been watching this ripple effect evolve in awe.
At that point, I jumped off the tube at Euston, beaming from ear to ear and went on my merry way to Manchester.
Who’s day can you brighten today? Kindness does not have to cost ANYTHING… Let’s be Rebels and sprinkle it around everywhere.
If you loved this and it made you smile, please share with everyone you know.
Happy Christmas All x
