Why the Rush?!

Let me tell you a story.

Be Kind. Feel Good. first hatched inside my mind back in 2011 while I was driving West on State Road 408 in Orlando. The name came to me like an answer I was seeking. Immediately I started planning it: I would create this big, worldwide kindness movement through merchandise people would buy from my beautiful store inside the Mall at Millenia, and online, of course! Coffee mugs! Car magnets! Recycled shopping totes! Reusable water bottles! T-shirts! Lotions! Candles! Jewelry! I sought out the artistic talent of my sister and brother-in-law in Rio, and both sent me many, many amazing designs I was going to use on my merchandise. And I ordered it all! My bedroom was filled with boxes with hundreds of mugs, totes, car magnets, water bottles and t-shirts. I hired a great local company to help me with my logo, stationary and website. What wonderful work they did! I was pumped! I sent car magnets to friends all around the world, and gave away free stuff. I started planning my store, the real store at the Mall, and how my morning meetings would go! I imagined my team having coffee and (Vegan!) donuts during our morning meetings! This was so exciting! I drove around all of Orlando planning and dreaming! Driving has always been a good way to allow all of my creative juices to flow. I had huge plans!

Then I stopped believing it would go anywhere. I simply stopped believing. I found myself too busy and tired with two very young children at home, a house full of dogs and cats, a busy husband, and my entire BKFG idea started fading away. Excuses piled up, one after the other. The merchandise boxes stayed in our bedroom for months and months after I stopped working on it. My husband didn't complain - what a relief! What a good soul he has. No, it didn't even hurt me a bit. My mind was too cluttered to think that far, to think that it was a shame I was simply giving up on it. I wasn't sad or disappointed in myself, now that I think back. This was nine years ago! I simply stopped it all. The excitement, the belief in me weren't there anymore, and I found the best excuses to let it go.

Last year, oh my, actually more than a year ago, I was sitting at a Starbucks waiting for my girls to finish Dance class and BKFG came back to me. It really did, just like that. It felt like a "Hey, remember me?" moment, but it felt different than before. I realized then that I had never really given up on it completely. I had simply stored it away in one of my mind compartments. In there it seemed to have matured, evolved... I had no new urge to create a bunch of merchandise and pile up boxes of stuff with BKFG stamped on it. I had no desire for a beautiful store at the mall or morning meetings with Vegan donuts (I love them, though!). I did not think selling stuff online was what BKFG stood for or how the message would get out.

Ha! Could it really be that nine years were necessary for Be Kind. Feel Good. to "grow up" in my "mind marinator"? Yes...possibly. Why the rush? It feels I am ready now. Today. I was not ready then.

Let me tell you: THIS Blog was not created today. It was created, you guessed it, last year. TODAY I am ready. TODAY BKFG starts living OUTSIDE of ME. Yes, it's a big deal for me. It feels really real, this time.

Be Kind. Feel Good. is not about stuff. It's about people. The stuff can come afterwards, maybe (a cute coffee or tea mug is always nice to have, right?). So that was one of the first decisions I made this time around: Focus on the Message.

What is the Be Kind. Feel Good. message and HOW will I deliver it?

Blog? Instagram? Live videos (oh, boy!...)? Tik Tok? Tweets? YouTube? What else is out there?

I don't know. I will start here. Let's see where this takes us. I don't know much about Lives on social media or creating a You Tube channel. I'll start here. Maybe Instagram as well.

For now I'll leave you with a thought to ponder: Kindness is one of the strongest qualities a human being can have. Kindness vibrates very highly, close to Joy and Love. We NEED to use it everyday to live a happier life.

Kind hugs from me to you,

Denise Z.

Thank you for reading!