Let me start off by saying this: I’ve had this blog for over 2 and a half years, and it’s pretty much a complete failure. If you read anything beyond this point, you cannot hold me responsible for your disappointment.

Am I Not Getting Through to You?

So I just read an article about Why Blogs Fail, and it was a pretty interesting read. It was one of those posts that you don’t really learn anything from, and someone tries to explain something that you don’t really care about, and make it sound like it’s critical “need to know” information. They use infographics from fake graph sites, and base an entire blog entry around, well… a fake graph. 

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The Situation (A Burning House, not the Chizzled Doosh): I get awakened by someone frantically pounding on my front door screaming “CALL 911, my house is on fire!” I run downstairs in my underware, half asleep, wondering if I will find a flaming bag of Moose poop on my front step. I open the front door, and there’s a woman standing there with a useless cordless phone. I look next door, the house is on fire. What would I REALLY do? 

Possibly This: I will run down the street while asking important (and heroic) questions. Who is in the house? When did you notice the fire? Do you have any small children? I kick in the front door in (barefoot). With my hand over my mouth, I am in full rescue mode, while burning tinder hits me in the face. I hear the voice of a small child, run toward the voice, and grab the child and run for the nearest exit. Carry the child out safely, just in time to be interviewed as a hero on 3TV.  I would crawl back to bed before my wife ever knew I was gone.

Probably this: Tell her that I will call 911, creep upstairs to get some clothes on. Go outside realizing that I forgot my cell phone inside and I also forgot to call 911. (I would explain to the lady that anything inside of her house is most likely dead already, so there would be no use going in there to risk the life of another person). When I see fire, it hypnotizes me, so I would also likely stare at the fire for a while, completely forgetting that people are likely hurt inside. 3tv would roll up and ask me what I knew about the fire, and I would blow em off because I wasn’t really paying attention, too busy thinking about what Hiro Nakamura would do (would he freeze time and save everything, or would he travel back in time to prevent the fire altogether). Needless to say, people will die.

So, does this necessarily make me a bad person? You don’t have to answer that…

I’m not trying to be the person who knows what a “good person” is, but I know what makes me feel better, and I’ve done things that make other people feel better about themselves. I have tried things to make my life more joyous and most attempts fall flat. I’m not a depressed or negative person, but I do know that life can get pretty tiresome when you slip and fall into routine. With this in mind, I am going to try an experiment, and hopefully, if everything goes the way I assume it will, things will definitely get better for me (and the people around me).

A picture that will make you feel better:

Say something positive to a stranger:

Ok, so when we went to Las Vegas a couple weeks ago, we tried something that was a little different. Shane, Chris, and I complimented random people for no reason. It started off as a joke, and then people started to hug, high-five, and thank us for being so nice. It went from being a game, to actually feeling a duty to compliment the people we felt needed it. It was a little bizarre, but it made me feel better. At one point, Chris had a high-five train rolling, and it was at least 25 people deep (it was funny).

The Plan: For next few weeks, I am going to say something nice to at least one random person per day. It may be someone at work, or someone at the store. I don’t want to know who the person is, because it takes away from the authenticity of the compliment. It must be a random person who has no idea who I am.

The Problems: I have to be careful. I don’t want random women to think that I am hitting on them, and I don’t want to get punched in the face by dudes who think I am making fun of them. I also don’t want people to think that I am challenged and that I just say stuff to random people. So how will I make this more believable? I’m working that out. Also, last time I did this, I had a healthy buzz going, and I assume that the people that I spoke to were in the same boat (based on the amount of woos we received). So, being 100% sober and complimenting random peeps will be a huge step out of my comfort zone, but I think it will be worth it.

In Conclusion:

No matter who you are, or how happy you are, you can always be a little more happy. I’m not going to pretend that I am either too happy or too unhappy to say or do nice things, but I am trying to be a better person. You never know how you can change someone’s day just by being a nice presence in their life.

WWMJD? JK! Thanks for reading this!