This morning as I walked my dog, a friendly long legged Jack Russell, I passed a street litter council worker and bid him good morning. He responded and we each went about our day. Yes, he was a stranger, and yes I spoke to him.
I then recalled a scene from the Truman Show, where everyone says morning and they have big smiles and perfect houses etc...you get the scene, but on this grey January morning, walking through a local housing estate, the houses weren't perfect and people weren't smiling or speaking.
Me being me, my ideal world head kicked in and I thought how lovely (and idyllic) it would be if people were pleased so see each other and just said 'hello' in the disconnected world we now live in.
So, I decided to say hello to everyone I came across on my walk.
Now how many people I see can vary depending on what time of day I walk the dog. But it was school dropping off time so it was busier than usual and I would certainly see someone!
What happened?...well, before I knew it a lady was coming my way...but I found myself scared and thinking, is she friendly? Does she want to interact? and then (draw breath for shock) i judged her...telling myself she didn't look friendly and I should stay quiet. Which i duly did and walked on.
Kicking myself, I determined to try harder.
A woman with a pushchair...oh wait, she's on the phone....pass....ok, a woman walking her child to school, now she made it easy ( as I am aware its a strange thing to do talk to strangers in the street, unless of course they have a dog and so do you as this seems to break all the rules and you are indeed allowed to talk to each other!) however, she conversed with her child about my dog, so I bid her Good morning and she flashed a beautiful smile at me and said Morning! ...Result.
Now boosted, I continued with fuelled determination.
Another lady walking, no dog, no children, deep breath, come one Amy you can do this......'Morning!' I said with a smile, she looked up in shock! ( Maybe she was thinking why are you talking to me?...or you spoke to me?) her shock coincided with my smile and she said a surprised 'morning' and began to smile herself as I passed.
I nearly laughed.
What a fun game this was!
Then it became easy, an older lady walking and I said morning and she smiled a lovely smile and returned my greeting. Finally, I walked into my house smiling one of those eye wrinkling smiles and felt really uplifted!
Why write a blog about this you may ask? Well, these days we are so detached as humans and we aren't meant to be! We tell ourselves, don't talk to the strangers on the street, and this is obviously a great rule for kids (even though they will talk to anyone), but as big kids we can and should interact.
It boosts us and brightens our lives. Why isolate ourselves in this big beautiful world when there are so many people around us.
Embrace the child within and talk to anyone and everyone...I dare you!!
Until next time
Amy