I often appreciate people inside, but have a hard time telling them right on their face things I absolutely love about them. Lately, I realized I am doing no good to myself and the people around me by not conveying this appreciation. We all have a story and we all are trying hard to move through life. One word of appreciation can move mountains for people without us realizing it. We, in general, are of the opinion that our words of kindness won’t help much. Also, we tend to appreciate strangers or acquaintances more than the people close to us thinking that the appreciation we hold for them is something obvious that won’t make a difference when explicitly stated. This false estimation of the impact of words can restrict people from saying things that might completely change someone else’s life for the better. Sometimes it’s not about false estimation, but shyness or hesitation.
The shyness/hesitation or false estimation can be overcome by a feedback loop. If you appreciate someone, the other person will feel happy about your words of kindness and realize the impact on them, so some other day they will not hesitate to convey their feeling of appreciation to someone else.
But for this to happen, we must understand how important it is to appreciate.
Appreciation shouldn’t be confused with validation. People don’t seek validation of others for things they are up to or for themselves, all they need is a motivation to see light in the dark. Human beings are wired like that. For example, a friend of yours having low confidence about the way their eyes look will see them differently in the mirror if you just go up to them and say, “Hey, your eyes look beautiful!”. I once received a message from a friend of mine, which read, “Hey Vansika, you are doing great and I have a feeling that you will do wonders in your life!” This text just made my day. Your words of appreciation might pull out someone from total breakdown or suicide as well. That is the power of words. In this world of social media where it is easy to abuse people from behind the screen, we need words of appreciation more than ever.
The other day I had a call with my colleague in a “get to know fellow Amazonians session for freshers”, when I asked her about a challenge she faced in life, she talked about how she kept to herself her appreciation for others and realized its importance when her manager pushed her to do so. She now feels happy whenever she appreciates the people around her.
Sometimes all we need is a push.
There isn’t a special day, a special time or a special place for you to appreciate others, just do it right here and right now.
The cover photo was taken in Theth, Albania.