The Kindness Quest – Make Your Vacation Kind!
What is a Kindness Quest?
A Kindness Quest, or #KindnessQuest is an extended period of time where you practice doing an intentional act of kindness each day. We do these on our vacation road trips, as they were born out of wanted to not be so self-focused during our trips. As a mama of four, I understand the need to protect your family and the challenges of dealing with a different routine. Despite loving trips with my family, I didn’t like how yucky I felt when we only thought about ourselves when we went off to have fun. It wasn’t developing the character traits I wanted in my kids.
Here Are Some of My Favorite #KindnessQuest Stories:
The Most Challenging Random Act of Kindness That Made Me Love My Enemies #KindnessQuest
Courage to Live: #KindnessQuest 5.0
How Do I know What Acts of Kindness to Do?
Sometimes it can be stressful to know what intentional acts of kindness to do. We call them intentional acts of kindness even though they are the same thing as “random acts of kindness.” But we call them intentional as we are trying to be purposeful. That being said, you can plan your acts of kindness in advance. On our first and biggest #KindnessQuest many of our things were planned in advance. I think I even had a budget! Meg made cards to pass out in advance, etc…
Most of our #KindnessQuests since, I just bring our colorful printable and ask each kid to choose one thing on it. Or they come up with their own spontaneously. You can also make it into something more specific, like only free things, only ones where you are interacting with a human, etc…. I would encourage you to get your companions (whether kids or college roommates) involved in the decision-making process as much as possible! It is much more likely they will engage, thereby meeting your goal of fostering kindness!
Definitely grab your free printable here!
What if I can’t travel to do a Kindness Quest?
Lack of mobility and or lack of finances don’t have to keep you from doing a Kindness Quest. The purpose of the quest is to develop kindness, not travel. I encourage people to dedicate a week to do a Kindness Quest from home.
As I write this, I am coming out of nearly two years of being unable to move much–I’ve had a handicapped pass on my car for a reason! And I still couldn’t drive or move without a wheelchair before I got that pass! Last year I could barely move and was pretty scared about doing a Kindness Quest. We were only scheduled to be gone for four days and all I had to do was be able to direct people to pick up, carry stuff, or pack-up. I joined with other friends who did most of the road trip work. In addition, some of the other acts of kindness we did from home.
It can also be expensive to travel. Vacations are a privilege and I realize that. I’ve gone through seasons where I couldn’t afford to travel. I starting camping and driving because I didn’t have the money to fly. But even that still costs a lot–especially in California where this year, the gas was $6 a gallon for a month! Five years into my marriage, I got into a big fight with my husband as I wanted to travel and I had no money. That was when we decided we could budget for me to put away $20 a month to go to a travel fund–it helped me feel less trapped! Eventually I had enough to travel!
I share these stories so you don’t feel discouraged or alone. I realize my stories are different than yours, but if you want to develop kindness in your lives, don’t let these challenges keep you from a #KindnessQuest.
But My Vacation is my Me Time!
I know there is a time for rest! After all, here at AverageAdvocate.com, I “empower you to change the world without burning out.” There are definitely times we don’t have the capacity to do things for others. Often our vacations are meant to be rest times, sabbaticals, or times to pour into our well being so we can give out later. That is good. Don’t feel pressure to make a Kindness vacation into another thing to put on your to-do-list. And please be intentional about taking time to rest and create these healthy rhythms!
This is more for those who feel like I did, not thrilled with selfishness and the “me, me, me” attitude I saw. Being able to enjoy a vacation and still take 5-20 minutes a day to bless others helped cure that.
There aren’t rules to this game. If you are in-between needing to rest and still want to challenge yourself, just do one act of kindness. Maybe something you don’t have to really plan, like complimenting someone in a public space. We usually go on multiple trips a year and only one is our designated Kindness Quest. The others have different purposes–to refill at a conference, to spend time with extended family, etc… Although they aren’t all #KindnessQuests, we have become comfortable with doing things to bless others even when we aren’t at home, it is becoming second nature. Which is kinda the point, right? For kindness to become a lifestyle!
What If We Forget to Do An Act of Kindness?
There is usually at least one day that we forget to do an act of kindness. On these days, we might pull out a scripture from our faith and talk about the purpose of kindness. Or we just try to be intentionally kind to eachother, each of us stating something we like about the people we are traveling with. This can be harder than you think!
Either way, it isn’t like you’re going to “fail” if you forget or ran out of energy. Don’t feel like you have to quit. That is pretty tempting if you miss a day or two. Again, think of your purpose: Fostering kindness. If you keep coming back to that goal, then you can call yourself winners!
Watch some of our kindness challenges on YouTube!
