Recently, I have been receiving so much light in the form of good deeds and happy moments (e.g., the recent Foo Fighters show, meeting my new friend, and my happiest birthday yet), and that generous amount of light makes me feel good.
But what’s better than receiving? It’s giving, especially the altruistic kind.
This is my 22nd Notes to Self.
If you make people feel seen or happy (or even both) in your own way, even if they don’t give anything in return, it feels like heaven on earth.
You don’t have to be a billionaire or a superhero (or both like Batman/Bruce Wayne) to make a difference in this world… or at least in someone’s world. Sometimes, even the simplest act of kindness can make a lasting difference to someone, and even if you don’t get anything back, when you see their reactions range from feeling seen to feeling happy, you will feel a kind of happiness that is out of this world.
One of my simple acts of kindness would be remembering my friends’ birthdays. I write their birthdays in my planner, and I make sure to greet them during the day, if not exactly at midnight. This is my way of telling them they matter to me, and this is also a way for me to sharpen my memory. What better way to improve my recall than to remember important dates like a loved one’s special day? And at this point, if they don’t greet me on my birthday, I’m at peace with that. What matters is that I gave light to theirs, and knowing their happy reactions feels like heaven on earth.
I’m glad to say, though, that most of them do remember my birthday. In fact, the barrage of greetings from them and others made my recent birthday the happiest one to date. But frankly, at this point, even if they don’t greet me on my birthday, I will keep on remembering to greet them on their birthday. I’m just wired like that. I’m that… deranged.
And that concludes this edition of Notes to Self.
See you in the next post, and have a nice weekend!
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Header image: Ali Arapoğlu of Pexels. Edited in Adobe Photoshop 2025.
The Diary of The Deranged Writer 