Welcome to the Why Not Today podcast where we celebrate courage, determination, and the
power of saying, Why Not Today?
I'm your host, Leslie Cain.
Each episode, we dive into inspiring stories of individuals who have taken bold steps,
faced their fears, and embraced the possibility of today.
For entrepreneurs, to artists, to dreamers, to doers, we explore the moments when they
said, Enough waiting, Why Not Today?
Join me as we uncover the heartwarming, the audacious, and the transformation.
Whether it's pursuing a lifelong passion, overcoming obstacles, or simply choosing joy,
our guests share their journeys and inspire us all.
This podcast is an honor of my father's legacy, Patrick Cain, who often did say, Why Not Today?
So remember, you're just one decision away from changing your life.
And I'm super excited about my guests today because I just met them five minutes ago.
And I always talk about the connections and where I meet people and how they connect.
And it's been such a fun journey with this podcast of how God is just putting people
on a path.
And I'm listening.
And I'm saying, Why Not Today?
And reaching out to the people.
So Kendra and Julie have a business called The Ruth Experience.
And I first found them on Christmas Eve.
I had brunch with a friend and treated myself to Barnes & Noble, which is one of my favorite
things.
I was reading a new devotional and I found one that they had written about friendship.
And I just spoke to my heart every day a devotional that you read about friendship.
And that's a lot about what the podcast is about, is friends and connections and community.
And then I was looking at their information and they wrote a book about daily acts of kindness.
And February, the kind of the theme we're having this month is, Why Not Today Love Yourself?
And so the Rind of Max of Kindness, I think goes hand in hands or acts of kindness.
And as I was looking at dates and holidays and stuff, it just popped up that the day
this episode will post is random acts of kindness day.
So I reached out to them and we made this happen quickly.
So thank you, Kendra and Julie, for being flexible and being ready spontaneous.
And I think this is the first episode we've had two guests.
So we're going to just have some fun.
So why don't you guys introduce yourself, which is a quick bio of who you are and a
fun fact, and then we'll talk about courage and the reef experience.
So I don't know who wants to go first.
Sure.
I can go first.
So my name is Kendra Reel.
I live in central Minnesota with my husband.
We have five kids, three of our five kids we adopted from foster care.
And so we have quite a span in ages.
That's kind of the fun fact about me.
Our oldest is 33.
Our youngest is 10.
And we have three in the middle.
So yeah, yeah.
So that's just a little bit about me.
Julie and I have actually been friends for many, many years.
And so that's how we started writing together, but we can talk more about that too.
So yeah.
Yes.
So and I'm Julie, Julie Fisk, and I also live in central Minnesota, married to my husband
Aaron for almost 25 years.
We're getting close.
Wow.
So yeah, we have some pictures, I'm about to have a driver in my family, and then two
dogs.
Okay.
Fun fact about me, I grew up in a farm 30 minutes from where I live.
And when I was in sixth grade, I told my mother that I was going to move and never return.
And I am the only one still in the state of Minnesota in my immediate family.
So we joke about that sometimes.
You have to be really careful about my nevers.
Yes.
I have one of those.
I'm a sales director with Mary Kay, and I remember a friend of my mom started selling
Mary Kay, I'm like, do not ever talk to me.
I will never sell it.
I will never wear it.
And 29 years ago, I started my Mary Kay business.
So be careful with it ever.
Totally agree.
And I can relate, although I never, I don't think I said I was going to move, but I have
lived in the same town since I was two and about a five mile radius.
And it's interesting.
I'd go to people's houses that lived in small towns and say, gosh, how do you live here your
whole life?
And then one day I woke up, I'm like, wait, I'm the same place.
But the difference is I'm outside of 20 minutes outside of Washington, DC.
And the town I live in is actually not even a town.
It's a planned community.
And it is about as old as me.
And so it has grown up from a dirt road to a huge metropolis with the metro and everything.
So it's grown up around me.
We both grown together.
So there you go.
All right.
So let's start with courage.
What is your definition of courage?
You know, I love this question.
I think my definition of courage is simply being willing to do it afraid, whatever that
thing is.
And that has been at least my theme for my life because I am someone who from a young
age, from childhood, has been kind of timid and felt scared about things.
And finally, and it's not even a quote from me, someone else said it, but I have adopted
it and made it my own, that idea of like, you don't have to wait until you feel great
or you're not afraid or whatever.
Just do it afraid.
And so for me, that that's what courage is.
Yeah.
And how often, I mean, everything we do afraid.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Especially the first time.
You're not living your life.
Right.
Exactly.
You're not trying maybe new things or yeah, for sure.
You're being comfortable.
Yeah.
How about you?
I was afraid to go second on this one because Kendra and I have been friends for so long
and we've done life together for so long that I don't know if I adapted yours Kendra or
you adapted mine, but I feel the same way about courage.
Learning to do something even though you're still trepidatious, even though it feels uncertain
and a little scary.
I don't think it's possible to do something new when it doesn't feel a little trepidatious
or a little scary.
So everything new that I've done, every big thing that I've done, I've been scared when
I did it.
Right.
Yeah, there's a book that I've quoted and taught and talked about for years called Feel
the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers.
And I pulled it out recently and unfortunately, I guess she's passed away a couple of years
ago, but she talked about everything we do.
If you're growing, you're going to be fearful.
But you just got to lean into it and do it and think about what's the worst thing that's
going to happen.
And somebody I listened to the other day, they said there's two kind of decisions.
One's the closed door decision.
You make the decision, there is no going back.
And that you need to think a little bit about.
But the other one is that there's a possibility, if you're 51% sure, he's like, just do it.
And he said, those are the things that, you know, if it doesn't work, try again, do something
else you're going to learn.
Pick up the lesson.
Right.
Yeah.
So, all right, to the Ruth experience.
So I know there's three of you.
So who is the third is?
So the third is actually my sister, Kristen, younger sister.
And we started the Ruth experience how long ago?
Was it now Julie, like 13 years ago?
At least.
So yeah, tell me the story.
How'd you guys get here?
Well, Julie and I have been friends for years, even prior to writing together.
We were going to women's conferences for a lot of years and speaking about having courage,
we had gone to a women's conference probably 15 years ago.
And Julie and I both have degrees and we're working in fields that we're not pertaining
to writing specifically.
And we left this conference feeling very inspired and Julie said to me, I think we should write
a book.
And we were like, I kind of felt that too.
But then we sat down and we couldn't really come up with an idea that.
So let me ask you a quick question before you go.
Women's conferences was what kind of were there because I know your books are devotional.
So there were women, spirit, Christian spirit.
So the spiritual a women's conference that was, but it was definitely, you know, kind
of along that same theme of like courage, like what do you want to do?
What is God speaking to you, you know, being willing to take steps and to do things and
to step out.
And so we were feeling really inspired, but just didn't go anywhere that first year.
We went back the next year.
And I can't remember what the theme was that year, Julie.
I don't know if you remember or not specifically.
I don't remember, but it was Suzy Larson who was speaking.
Yeah.
And immediately after, excuse me, immediately after she spoke Kendra and I sat down and
I think we wrote the table of contents in 30 minutes.
It just downloaded for us.
And yeah, and we had both independently prayed, you know, and said, if you actually want to
start a book, you're going to need to tell us what to write because we felt a little
bit like everything under the sun had been written.
And so had left it the year before kind of had gone through that summer and just left
it and thought, well, something's bubbling, but we don't know what.
And then yeah, that was our first book.
So which one was your first book?
So that was actually called the roof experience.
Okay.
So what's the story behind it?
So we, so Julie and I were part of a church launch many, many years ago.
And part of that group of people that got together was women and families that really
kind of came not really having a faith background.
And so Julie and I had both grown up in the church.
And so one of the things that had been one of my favorite things about that was we called
it a tea and testimony night where women would come and they would share, you know, something
that God had done in their lives.
Well, we wanted to have that sort of an event, but we didn't want to call it tea and testimony
because we wanted to attract younger people to come to it.
And so we, as we were thinking about what we could call it, we were actually reading
the book of Ruth at the time in the Bible.
And so we thought, let's call it the roof experience because that's really what it is.
It's this idea of women doing life together, journeying through life, encouraging one another
when someone is up, the other person is down and the other, you know, they come together.
And just how God kind of weaves our relationship with one another to build support and to chase
dreams and to all of that.
And so that's what we ended up calling that group when we would come together.
So as we started writing, we thought, you know, the Ruth experience, that idea is something
that we want to create.
Our first book is based on that, but then also this online community that we have is really
meant for women to come and to find support and to find other women who are, you know,
just coming together, doing life together, encouraging and supporting all while, you
know, being honest and real about where we are in life and the struggles that we have
and all of that.
So that's really kind of the how the Ruth experience came to be.
We do have to explain that all the time.
And we have honestly tried to come up with another name and we're like, we just can't
do it.
We can't do it.
And, you know, it's interesting not even knowing that story and God putting me in that Barnes
and Noble and grabbing that book, I mean, is not by accident.
And because as we talked about before we started, the podcast is women are looking for friends
and connections.
And I am not married and single and never been married and have lots of great friends
and a friend of mine a couple of years ago got divorced and we were talking about it.
And I've learned how to be single and thrive and not just survive because I've got such
a powerful tribe around me.
And a lot of women don't have that to lift you up and you need those because life is not
always perfect and to be encouraging.
So I've tried to be that encourager for a lot of people and surround myself with like-minded
people.
And where this podcast, I really feel like it's going is to build communities just like
you guys talked about to be around like-minded people to help support each other.
So what is the Ruth experience book?
Let's talk about that.
Is it a devotional or is it like the other ones?
Because I don't have that one yet.
I have so many books you guys are going to make me get more books.
It's a self-published book.
It's our very earliest.
So we just put a little caveat on there.
Like we love the girls we were when we were writing that first book, but that was our
first attempt.
And so I'm not always sure if I want to refer people to that book.
But it was what we did is we took that story, that friendship of Ruth and Naomi and we walked
through it in this book.
But then we interspersed that journey that Ruth and Naomi went on with interviews of women
and facing similar situations.
And so really it's that we just teased apart what that entire relationship looked like
for those two women and then wove in current modern day women's stories because it transcends
age, it transcends culture.
These were women that were different generations.
It was a mother-in-law and her daughter, which we always love to pit mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws
against each other.
And so just all of these ways that God worked these lives around in this gorgeous redemption
arc because Ruth is listed in the lineage of Jesus.
She's one of very few women that was intentionally, scripturally included.
So there's just so much richness to that story.
So that's our first book.
I'm not a devotional, I'm only non-devotional and our very first book.
So I just put that little.
Okay, well, I definitely needed it.
Put it on, it was on, but you know.
Well, you know what I found too, and all the guests I've talked to, there's a story behind
the story.
Like I talked to, like one woman did a newspaper, I'm like, oh, okay, I want to talk to her.
It's a local newspaper.
And but found out that she has a seizure disorder and can't drive.
And the reason she can do the newspaper with three teenage active kids in Northern Virginia
is that she can't drive them.
She can't be a taxi driver.
And so she has the time to put into the paper because her husband is basically the Uber
driver in the family.
You know, in the past, she never would have ended up here if it wasn't for her disorder.
You know, so you just never know somebody's story behind the story.
So I definitely would love to read that.
And because I love hearing people's stories and then that how we relate.
And totally, you know, with the podcast, I've had people say that listening to this, it
gives them permission to say yes themselves and give them hope.
That's important.
Yeah.
So let's talk about your other books and then let's talk about other books and then let's
wrap it around with the daily acts of kindness last and we can talk about that.
Okay.
So after that, okay, you're going to ask us that.
What is the official count, Julie?
Nine on shelves.
We've got a couple under contract.
So that's really cool.
And you guys weren't book writers.
No idea what you're doing.
You're having to figure this out.
It's amazing how many people I've had on the podcast that are just figuring out and talking
to somebody that wrote a book that she was like, everybody keeps asking me and how to
do it.
And I'm like, there needs to be courses on that.
And I told her, I said, you need to work on helping other people and figure it out how
to launch it.
Yeah.
And all the things because it's definitely a science to it as well.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
We've learned a lot.
I mean, you don't always realize how much you've learned until you start to talk to somebody
and you're like, oh, there's a lot to learn.
And I think that's impressive that you're in a Barnes & Noble in right outside of DC.
Yeah.
That's exciting.
Yeah.
That's very exciting.
So, all right.
So nine books plus.
Yes.
So let's talk about some of the other books.
What are some of your favorites maybe?
Or.
So we have all your babies.
Yeah, they are.
That's, that's the trouble is like saying which one's our favorite.
But, you know, talking just generally the backstory on all of these books, we say we
write the resources that we need.
And so any of our books, even though there's varied on the topics, we have friendship,
like you said, we have kindness.
We have one called one good word and then gratitude daily acts of gratitude just came
out last October.
But we always start by kind of writing the things that we need that we're practicing
in our lives or that we're practicing within our families.
And so that's really kind of the heart behind any book that you pick up of ours.
Along, you know, you mentioned the friendship.
We also did a, when we started writing that book and started talking to women about their
stories, we found that so much of what happens around friendship.
And a lot of the really harder stories that women would share with us started in childhood
or as teenagers.
And so we actually went back to our publisher at that time and said, can we write a book
for girls because we really feel like this is kind of when a lot of this stuff comes
up and they, and they agreed.
And so we actually, you know, we have the 365 friendship was, which is for women, but
then we, we did write a hundred daily acts of friendship for girls as well because we
really thought goodness, this is, we have girls ourselves, but this is so important
for us to learn healthy friendship habits at a young age, at a young age.
So, absolutely.
So you need to go back and listen to the episode.
Now I'm blanking on our first name, but she has a company called Brave Girl Tribe and
a community around working with teenagers.
And so, yeah, same kind of premise.
And with my Mary Kay business, I really work on courage and confidence with women, but
also young girls, they say in women's self-esteem is highest at age 10.
I would believe it.
Bad.
I would believe it.
I was with somebody yesterday and she's a 50-some-year-old woman and she wanted to put makeup on.
She never wears it.
She's like, I don't want anybody to look at me.
I don't want anybody to pay attention to me.
I don't want to notice me.
I don't want to wear lipstick.
I'm like, first of all, they don't pay that much attention to you.
Hate to say it.
But, you know, so sad.
You know, luckily she doesn't have a daughter, but she has a son.
But what we're passing on.
Yeah.
So, I love that.
Can't wait to.
So, is that written yet or?
Yep.
That one is out.
That one came out, goodness, a couple of years ago now.
And then going on to kindness, this was actually, Daily Acts of Kindness was the first 365 devotional
that we wrote.
And so we...
That's a lot too.
It is.
It's funny because we had originally thought we were going to write a trade book around
kindness.
So just like a chapter book around this idea of kindness, but we did kind of acts amongst
our three families for an entire year.
Yeah.
Talk about that story.
That's really cool.
Yeah.
So we used to do when our kids were little, we started doing Daily Acts of Kindness around
Christmas time because for us, when our kids were small, it was like trying to find tangible
ways to bring in the idea of Christmas and the real meaning of Christmas.
And that is not just about me and what it is that I want, what's on my Christmas list.
And so we, as the three of us started doing Daily Acts of Kindness with our families at
Christmas time, we did that for a couple of years.
And then my sister, Kristen, said, why don't we do a year of kindness and just continue
this on?
And so we did.
We did an entire year of kindness.
We have a Google Doc to prove it.
And then we met with a publisher about our idea of writing on kindness because we're like,
we've been doing this enough that we feel like we have some experience that we could
share with other people.
And she was actually the one who suggested, she said, well, if you've done a year of kindness,
why don't we make this into a devotional?
And so Tyndale already has their one year line.
And she said, I really think that this would fit well within that.
We had never written a devotional like that before.
And so we thought, well, this, we'll try it for sure.
We'll try it.
And so that's really how that devotional came to be.
You talk about favorites.
This one might be my favorite just because it was our first.
And I feel like for us, it was that first really big step, not just within our writing,
but I feel like with our families as well to be practicing some of these things out.
So yeah.
And I love stories that you guys started as a family, as your family's doing this and
then passing it on.
And then may I share?
Yeah.
Sorry, Julie, interrupted you.
Oh, that's okay.
And when Kendra says that we write the books that we need, I mean, we are not, we always
are honest in saying we're not experts.
We're women on a journey and we're just inviting other people to journey along with us.
And I distinctly remember one day we were in the middle of that manuscript for kindness
and I came home and I don't remember what I had done.
I don't remember what the day had been, but I walked in the door and I said to my husband,
I am not kind.
Why am I writing a book on kindness?
And there's something about the practice or the attempt or the journey where there are
moments where you see your blind spots or you see your weaknesses or you see opportunities
for growth within yourself.
And so each of these books, we are never experts like telling people like, this is what you
need to do.
It really is this invitation to say, come and learn to do this with me.
And we are honest in sharing some of the ways in which we've struggled or we've fallen a
little bit short.
So it's always a gentle invitation because that's what life is about.
We're not going to get there.
We're on a journey.
And so just, I think maybe accepting that and then working towards growth.
I love that.
Like, and you could hear it in your voice, just the invitation.
And it's interesting.
I think I was ever done the one word.
Have you heard of that or my intent?
So my word this year, and it ties in just what you said.
What we do is what we need.
So my word this year is brave.
And you think, you know, I'm wrapped all and talking all the people about their courage
and everything.
But I had to be brave and turn the podcast into a business.
And I've been talking about it for a while.
And so finally, my word was brave in January 2nd.
I did the LLC, which took all of five minutes, but having to learn a whole new business and
how to set up a business and all the things that sometimes I hear myself saying, I don't
want to do that.
I'm like, okay, but how can you be talking about courage to everybody and encouraging
everybody else to be courageous and not doing it yourself?
Right.
Good to see you for taking that step, Leslie.
Yeah.
So it's a little scary sometimes.
It's like, what am I doing?
Leaving the comfort of a business.
I'm not that I'm leaving it, but putting tension here.
And you know, I did the same thing 24 years ago when I quit my full time job to pursue
Mary Kay.
And I'm like, look, and I talk about all the time.
I'm like, okay, it's time to have that brave step again.
All right.
So kindness.
What was your most impactful or most heartwarming kindness act that you guys did in those years?
Or you talked about what's the one that really stands out either you did or your kids or
that made a difference.
And I assume it's probably something super teeny, tiny and not big, but it could be.
Do you have one?
You know, I, I have just generally like you're right.
It has, it's not big ones.
It's ones that my kids have done that were things that I wasn't necessarily passionate
about myself, but they became very passionate about.
And it's not that I didn't think they were good things.
I mean, we're good things, but it's like, it, it was really kind of, for me, most impactful
to see that they had their own kind of internal like awareness and awakening like to a need
that someone had.
So for example, my son who was a teenager at the time and who was kind of going through
a really hard time himself, but he really, when we started doing kind acts, especially
at Christmas, he was so passionate about wanting to help people who were homeless.
And so one thing that we did was we would make packs that we could give out to people
who were homeless when we saw them on the street.
And so we would do that.
But then one day we saw someone, it was in, in December in Minnesota, which is usually
quite snow, quite cold in there with snow.
And we saw someone and he said, can we go get him a cup of coffee?
And so I thought, yeah, let's do it.
Cause we were just out running errands.
So we got a cup of coffee.
He picked out a muffin too that he thought this man would like.
And he walked over to, we went back to the parking lot where he was.
My son got out and walked over to him and just had this, I kind of stayed back to allow
him to have that experience.
And this man just, he, my son had his Vikings jersey on.
And so he immediately was like, are you Vikings fan?
They had this beautiful interaction that really had nothing to do with me at that point, which
was good.
And that just watching that and observing that was like very impactful for me because
a lot of times we do things for ourselves and that's good and we can have growth.
But when you start to see the growth in the people around you as well and the things that
matter to them, I feel like that was something that was really meaningful and encouraged me
to be like, okay, this is, this is good, not just for me, but this is good to be doing
with our kids for them to have these experiences as well.
Yeah.
I mean, what we pass on is such a difference.
I remember one time my nephew and he was probably teenage, maybe beginning of college, something
he was somewhere and there was somebody on the corner or whatever and he gave him some
money and his friends like, what are you doing?
And Sam's like, my grandma always said, what if it's Jesus?
And he says, so like he's learning it from my mom and you know, passing it on.
Yeah.
All right, Jolie.
What's your favorite?
So there's many, but this is the story that always reminds me that those little things
matter intensely.
So when my daughter was an infant, she was at a daycare center with another little girl
who they shared the same name.
So they were very similar in age and they had the same name.
Mom and I also had the same name.
Oh wow.
And we knew, we knew of each other, but we did not, we weren't, we weren't even acquaintances.
We just knew of one another.
And so I found out that her little girl was facing some pretty serious, pretty scary surgery.
And so I wrote her a note.
And I mailed the note and I literally forgot about it for, I think, 10 years.
And I was on my way to a business luncheon and I was late and my shoes were like not
fitting and I was running in and they were setting up this table for all of us stragglers
at the very back of this luncheon and I was sad because I was supposed to be there to
network and here I am late and flustered and I'm on this table and the very, very back.
And I sit next to this other woman named Julie and I have forgotten that I ever wrote a note.
I have forgotten completely about the story.
And so we have lunch and we're visiting and we get to the very end of the lunch and she
says to me, I just have to tell you how much that note you wrote to me all those years
ago meant and I still have it.
I kept it.
Wow.
And I got out into my car and I just started crying because, you know, sometimes those
nudges that we get to do something and it just feels little and it's a bit of an inconvenience
and we think to ourselves, it doesn't really matter.
Clearly mattered.
So that reminded me to always be, I mean, not always, I'm not always great.
Always is a big word.
But to try when I get that nudge to send the text, make the call, send the email, send
the note, like do the thing because you just don't know.
Yeah.
Why not today?
That's right.
Yeah.
I totally agree and I try to follow that myself and just, you know, when that person pops
up in your mind, just send them a text, I have a friend that if she's in, she goes to
the drive-thru Starbucks purposely instead of going inside.
So while she's there as people and she has a ministry as well, as people pop up, she
sends them a note and it's just, you know, those little things you don't think make a
difference.
Right.
So make a difference.
I don't have it on today, but I normally wear a starfish necklace.
You guys know the story of the starfish?
Yes, I have heard that before.
You heard it, Julie.
I, it's tickling in the back of my mind.
I was walking on the beach and throwing starfish in the ocean and this older man comes up and
he goes, what are you doing?
He goes, I'm saving the starfish.
And he goes, there's thousands on this beach.
How can you make a difference?
And he picked one up and threw it in the ocean.
He says, I made a difference in that one.
And so I really try to live by that.
Like you just never know you're going to make a difference and that one person could make
a difference in your life and really follow like God's nudges.
Like you guys just saying, you know what?
I'm going to ask what's the worst thing I can say?
A friend of mine that I was just mentioning, she has a ministry and it's called Faithfully
Following and several years ago she had a challenge to share a scripture for a week
on social media.
And I started doing it when I do my devotionals.
I would Google because I'm very visual.
I would Google the scripture and come up with a picture that spoke to me and post it.
Well, this was years ago and I still do it almost every day.
And the reason I will never stop is when I did it, a friend of mine, son who's very
close to me, he calls me fake aunt Leslie, he said, I wake up when he was like 16.
He goes, I wake up in the morning and look at Instagram to see what you posted every
day to start my day.
And I have people all the time, kind of like you Julie, you never know that people walk
up to me.
Somebody yesterday is like, oh my gosh, I see everything you post on social media and it's
so inspiring and you think nobody's paying any attention to anything we're doing.
So now I have added inspirational posts every day along the why not today message.
And just something inspirational just to help people with their day because those little
things definitely make a difference.
You just never know whose life we've touched.
Yeah.
Yeah, and so this weekend, so I was this, I guess Saturday is random acts of kindness
day.
I distinctly remember when this movement came about.
Do you guys remember that?
It was actually, there was an article in the paper and I think I have it cut out somewhere
in my world.
And either I bought it or I had it made a stamp rubber stamp that said random acts practice
a random act of kindness today.
Yeah, something along that line.
So that has been spinning in my world and I know I was working and I left my job 24 years
ago.
So it is a long time ago.
I need to look, but it has always spoke to me.
So how we've come full circle to this, you know, to do a random act of kindness.
I think I mentioned to you guys when we started how perfect timing this is because lent started
yesterday.
So, you know, 40 days of, you know, if you're a Christian Catholic and celebrate lent and
celebrate practice, I don't know what the.
Observe.
That, you know, they always talk about give up chocolate or give up this and I always try
to, instead of giving up something, add something to my life.
Like what can I do to give back to somebody else or do something?
In the radio station, this local here, they do drive through Difference Thursday, where
they challenge everybody on Thursdays to pay for the person behind them in the drive through.
And so, you know, what are those little things as people are listening to this podcast, whether
it's when it's coming out during that or anytime you're listening to it, like think, really
think, challenge everybody to why not today do something kind for somebody else?
It's that little thing and it doesn't even have to be, you know, that people, you could
just do it anonymously.
Absolutely.
You don't have to do it, be big and boastful about it.
But just, you know, and even, you know, the world of social media, as we were talking
about young girls and how terrible it is and how hard it is, like social media for adults
is just as toxic.
But what if you went every day and just sent a private message to somebody you're thinking
about them or, you know, I've been watching people on social media and you can really
see the people that are hurting.
They put things out on social, you know, they're really in bad shape.
Or sometimes you can, it looks all unicorn and amazing, but you can see, you know, pay
attention to what's going on behind the scenes.
Yeah.
Because, and reach out to those people because people are hurting.
Oh yeah.
Well, and I think, and I think too, I mean, even though it's, it's random acts, if you
start that day, like let's say, so Saturday's random acts of kindness day, just by thinking,
you know, who, who could I be a blessing to today?
And then keeping that in the forefront of your mind, I promise they'll be small little
opportunities.
It can be something as simple as holding the door open for somebody who's got their arms
full behind you or, you know, offering assistance in the grocery store.
Somebody's looking for something.
I mean, just simple little things.
If you, if you start your day by saying, I want to find ways to be a blessing to somebody
else today, I promise you you'll see them and they're just little things.
And like you said, like I'm the same way too, where if I hear of a friend who's having a
hard day, I'll quick send them a text, you know, I'm praying for you or, or, you know,
following up on something.
I know that they're having a hard day at work.
So, you know, maybe the next morning saying, Hey, how did yesterday go?
Is everything okay?
Like remembering those things.
Just remembering those things.
And, you know, it doesn't, it doesn't take any extra time for us really to do that.
Right.
One of my, oh, go ahead.
Go ahead.
No.
One of my favorite things, and it is again, just very easy.
We will think things in our head that are complimentary.
Like, Oh, I like that one's purse.
Or look at how cute your shoes are.
Or, and it doesn't have to be about appearance.
You can also, there's so many different ways to compliment a person, but I have learned
that if I think it, and it's lovely about somebody else, I try really hard to say it,
even when they are strangers.
So I have kind of chased somebody down, like in a parking lot, just a little bit, like
not in a weird, scary way, but to just say whatever it was, I don't remember if it was
shoes or purse or something.
It is incredible how people just light up when you compliment them in some way.
So absolutely.
And we all, you know, have insecurities and we, you know, we want to, and we want to hear
our name too.
If you know somebody's name, that makes a powerful thing.
So yeah, I was thinking, one thing I have acquired from my mother who acquired my grandmother
is sending notes, just a card, just some love.
And I remember one day, it was in February, several years ago, I was just having a bad
day.
I think it was during 20, no, 2021.
I don't know.
It was just a really bad day.
And almost to the point like almost get back in bed and get out the other side kind of
thing.
And so I went to dollar store and bought a whole bunch of Valentine's cards and I just
sent them out to a ton of people and just blessed them.
And so sometimes, you know, when you're having a bad day to bless somebody else, and I had
this thought, I've never thought this thought until yesterday.
You know, how much fun is it to get good mail?
You know, handwritten, a card, I tried to put a sticker on it.
I pay attention to the stamps I buy, not that anybody else does the pen I use.
And I was walking my dog yesterday and the mailman was dropping off mail to somebody
and the woman, I just heard from a distance, she said, oh, it's just probably bills and
junk.
And the thought hit my head like, and I was going to ask the mailman, but he was too far
ahead, I'm like, does it give male men, women joy to see fun mail come in the mail and not
just bills and junk?
Like, you know, I never had that thought, but I'm thinking, you know, if that if you're
delivering mail and I mean, they're delivering junk 90% of the time in my, I live in a condo
in my building, there's the mailroom and there's a trash can and you literally go and throw
your mail right in the trash and that's his job and that's their livelihood.
And hopefully they feel like they're making a difference.
Yeah.
But, you know, we need to spread some more love notes to people.
We do.
Just joy in giving back.
So that's what I'm going to be committed to now.
And I often go to the dollar store or Trader Joe's, I don't know if you guys have Trader
Joe's, they have the best cards now, don't ever go to Target and buy cards because they
cost you an arm and a leg, but I buy cards and just keep them.
And then when somebody pops in my head, I'll just send the cards.
Yes, such a good idea.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh, we could talk forever.
I'm so glad I feel like I have two new friends.
You do.
Yay.
I can't wait to follow all the stuff you guys do.
So I don't want to have this going forever, but I always end with how would you encourage
somebody else to say why not today and do the thing, write the book, compliment the person,
do the kindness.
Yeah, I would say start where you're at.
You know, just take one step, whatever that is.
It doesn't have to be huge.
It doesn't have to be, I think sometimes we get overwhelmed when we think about an entire
process.
And so if you break it down and you're just like, what's one thing I can do today towards
this goal, whatever that goal is, and taking that one step, I love that phrase, why not
today?
Because I think if you say that to yourself often, you'll look back after six months or
a year and be like, wow, I've taken a lot of steps.
But it starts with just that first one.
And going back to what we said at the beginning, just being willing to do it afraid, it's okay
if you're afraid.
You can still take that step.
Absolutely.
I would say do it imperfectly.
Don't wait for perfection.
You're going to learn so much.
So just start.
And it doesn't have to be beautiful.
In fact, it can look terrible or be written badly or just start.
And then in a year, in six months, like Kendra said, even in three weeks, you're going to
look back and you're going to see the growth that you have had individually.
And it's going to be incredible.
So just your personal perfection.
It wasn't perfect.
And my first podcast was not perfect, but I did it.
We're at 50-some episodes now.
So just doing it.
I love that.
So I always try in the podcast as I talk to people, tie it back to my dad.
And people are like, I never met your dad.
And I'm like, no, but what are the things that you guys said?
So Julie, you said something and I didn't write it down, so it kind of left my brain.
But there was a connection.
But Kendra, what you said is your kids.
I'm one of six kids.
And we're not all from the same parents.
People always ask me that.
And there's eight, it's not as big of a gap, but there is 18 years difference.
My younger sister is 18 years younger than me.
So, yeah, it's a big family.
I love it.
But it'll come to me as soon as we stop the recording.
Julie, I'll sign you.
That's okay.
So, well, thank you guys for being on and being so spontaneous.
And let's spend some random acts of kindness to people.
And if you guys want the books, they're on Amazon, obviously.
Barnes & Noble.
Eventually, I've had so many authors on my podcast that eventually I'm going to have
a link on my website, all the book and how you get them.
Another thing I have to figure out.
But thank you guys for being my guests.
Thank you all our listeners for listening and for watching the podcast.
We are celebrating two years and less than a month, which is exciting.
So remember, you can always follow the podcast at whynottodaypodcast.com.
We started a new Facebook group.
It's called the Why Not Today Community, where we share and build each other up.
And you can always get Why Not Today swag like t-shirts and cups from the website.
And there's always Courage Coat quotes on there.
So, thanks again, you guys, for being our guests and everybody for watching and listening.
And remember, say Why Not Today.