How a Stranger Brightened My Day
Monday 28th September, 2020
My story begins at home on the morning of Monday the 28th of September, 2020. It starts with me getting up at my regular 4am and feeling a bit under the weather. I suffer from agoraphobia and knew that I had to go to an open warehouse in order to get supplies such as pasta and sauces etc. to store them out of my mother's fear of another lockdown. I took my medication, did my yoga, worked out a little and then had my breakfast. All this time, I was consciously aware of this trip and since I have suffered from agoraphobia for over ten years now, I made efforts to control my breathing and take my heart rate down. Eventually I had to use medication to do the latter. My medication makes me upset, bloated and in some cases, confused and dizzy. I had (and still have) been having vertigo because of the medication.
Now, it's about seven in the morning.
I start the sunrise by making my mother a cup of ginger root tea on the hob and taking it to her room to talk to her (yes, I'm almost 25 and still live with my parents because I'm legally their carer as they are both physically partially disabled and my mom has a heart condition). I keep my mother company and then I go and make her breakfast.
By this time, it's 9am or slightly later.
We left for the shop at 10am and therefore, my anxiety was at a certain point where I could no longer take any medication to push it all the way back down. I got dressed by the standards I have written about in my article on coping techniques. However, I have always enjoyed dressing in a 1950s style which was sometimes viewed as 'old-fashioned' by others. I don't have self-esteem issues and I actually think I'm pretty regular-looking (my lack of self-esteem issues though is quite dependent on the fact that I'm actually asexual. It will be discussed later in another article).
By 11am:
I am feeling down, a bit sea-sick and I know that it is mostly in my mind so I am trying to push it all the way back down by giving myself breathing exercises, which get evermore difficult when you're wearing a face mask. And so, when I begin walking around the store, I'm wearing my red rockabilly coat, my white pillbox hat and my white ankle boots. My eyeliner is something that I do to calm down and so, my wings were pretty huge.
Whilst I was walking around the meat aisle and feeling pretty shitty after some five or six hours of trying to get my heart rate down again since my medication was now wearing off. But, I was surprised when this woman wearing a cute beanie hat and a grey raincoat-style jacket came up to me and said something short but really nice. It pretty much changed my entire view of the day and proved to me that one nice thing can have a massive impact on someone's day:
"I love your hat so much, it's very Jackie-O!"
As many people know, I have always looked to Jackie Kennedy (Jackie-O) as a source of inspiration for my fashion and looks. It would not make much of a difference if someone I knew said it to me, but the fact that there was someone I didn't know and had never seen before came up to me and talk to me was something completely surprising.
So, how did I feel after this?
For the rest of the day I was basically talking about this one compliment and it sort of made some of my physical symptoms go away. The feeling of sea-sickness didn't go away entirely, but it did become more manageable afterwards. I found that I was happier, calmer and mostly more put together than I was before the comment.
I found as well, that I was smiling behind my mask and from my eyes, you could definitely tell I was smiling. When I wave at small children (normally when I notice that their parents are ignoring them and they look a bit rejected), they can tell if someone is smiling at them from behind a mask. It's not just the physical smile but the energy you give off when you're happy. This woman who came up to me and complimented me knew that I was smiling and happy behind my mask and she gave off the same energy towards me when she stated that small, short line.
The lesson here is:
If you feel like someone looks good or you want to give someone a compliment, then give it to them. You have no idea how much you could brighten their day and even make them feel a lot better.
About the Creator
Annie Kapur
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