00:00I'm Lucy Fink and this week is five days of random acts of kindness. Hey guys!
00:05Welcome back to Try Living with Lucy. If you're new to our YouTube channel, click
00:08on the little subscribe box right here. Some quick real talk. I learned that 80
00:12percent of the people that watch these videos are not yet subscribed. Don't you
00:17want to be part of the squad? It's very easy. If you already have a Gmail account,
00:21you already have a YouTube account too. And subscribing is so easy. Just put your
00:25mouse right here where my finger is and now follow my finger and tap gently in
00:32the corner. Yes! Alright, first and foremost, you'll probably notice I'm not in my
00:36bedroom. My apartment building is currently undergoing construction and I went to
00:41make this webcam this morning and there were construction workers hanging from
00:45ropes outside my window. So I decided to move this webcam to Refinery29. I'm in our
00:50studio right now and I'm just gonna do it from here. On to the video. Most of my
00:54five-day challenges wind up being focused on me. For example, how does five days
00:59without coffee make me feel? How do I feel after five days of facing my fears?
01:04And even though I know that many of you guys wind up applying my lessons to your
01:08lives, I decided that this week's episode was gonna be about pulling me out of my
01:13little bubble and taking me away from the me and I and instead focusing on
01:17others. My goal this week is to do a series of small things for others expecting
01:21absolutely nothing in return. So when planning for this episode, I wanted to
01:25make sure that each of my five days was focused on not only spreading kindness
01:29in a different way, but also to a different part of the world.
01:34On Monday, I started locally by asking myself, who's one person in my life that I
01:39see every single day? And what is one tiny thing that I can do for them to make
01:44their day just a little bit better? And this question led me straight to Tony.
01:48Good morning, Lobby. Tony speaking. Tony works in the lobby of Refinery29's
01:52office building and he is the world's best building facilitator. He knows
01:57everybody's name and no matter what day of the week it is, what the weather looks
02:01like outside, or what is going on in the world, he will greet you with a smile.
02:05How was your weekend? Very nice, yours. Great.
02:07Kind of quick, but we make the best of it, right? Isn't it always like that? Yeah.
02:11You know what I meant to ask you? Yeah. Do you know everybody's name in the whole building?
02:15I would say like 99%. I'm not going to say 100%. I'm good with names.
02:21What's up, Fred? Morning, how are you? Good morning, how are you? Good, and you?
02:26See, you know everyone. Yeah, that's Shahan the painter.
02:29When I'm running out to get lunch and Tony has to stay stationed at his position in the lobby,
02:34how easy is it for me to just grab him lunch? Thankfully, from chatting with Tony in the
02:38past, I was already well acquainted with his favorite type of food. So when I was out on
02:42my lunch break, I went to his favorite spot, and I got him a Greek salad, a drink, and a
02:46little surprise for dessert. And, I hope you like it, baklava. I love it. This is my treat
02:54for later. I could see how grateful he was just from the smile he gave me, and it made me
02:58realize that this tiny action of mine, something that honestly did not take that much time out
03:03of my day, was able to make someone else's day so much brighter.
03:10On Monday, my random act of kindness involved spending a little bit of money on someone else
03:15to make their life easier. And that's a very simple thing that you can do for someone in
03:18a number of ways. But something that's important to keep in mind is that not everyone has the
03:22means of spreading kindness by purchasing things. And that's totally okay, because most
03:27acts of kindness don't require you to spend a single cent. When you think about doing random
03:31acts of kindness, I bet your head naturally gravitates towards doing kind things for other
03:36people, right? But don't forget that you can also do kind things for your planet and for
03:40the creatures that live on it. Tuesday was fully focused on doing a random act of kindness
03:44for the world and the environment. I woke up bright and early, I rode the subway down to
03:49Coney Island, and I spent a few hours picking up trash on the boardwalk and the beach. I put
03:53on a pair of those disposable gloves, and I brought one of those garbage grabbers, and I just
03:58started collecting garbage that I found on the ground. A Refinery29 article that I found
04:02cites that 80% of marine pollution comes from land-based activities. And plastic trash
04:07often finds its way back into the ocean. This is not only damaging for the environment, but
04:12it's also incredibly harmful for animals that either wind up eating this trash, or worse,
04:17getting tangled up in plastic debris and dying because of it. Hostess.
04:24One great way to help out this situation and to do a little act of kindness every day is
04:28switch out all plastic straws and instead either use paper straws, reusable straws, or
04:33just no straws at all. You can also go entirely zero waste like I did in a previous five-day
04:38challenge. But if you don't want to do that, then picking up garbage whenever you see it
04:42is a great way to help too. Bottle caps, cups, cans, plastic wrappers, straws. I even found
04:48a sock and some boxers, which I set aside separately for clothing recycling.
04:54It's actually somebody's bathing suit.
04:58Somebody is skinny dipping right now and I just stole their suit.
05:02This was one of the most fulfilling mornings that I've had in a while. Basically, my cameraman,
05:06Andrew, and I got to go to one of the coolest areas of the city, spend a little bit of
05:10time
05:10hanging out on the beach and doing something good for our planet and for the animals. And then,
05:14when we were done working, we got to ride on the Coney Island Cyclone.
05:20This day was so great that I'm challenging you guys to do this exact same thing. Pick any
05:25weekend morning, get together with some friends, go to a local beach or a park and pick up trash
05:30together and then just spend the rest of the day hanging out and relaxing.
05:35I think that one of the nicest things a person can do is bring a smile to a stranger's face.
05:40I'm so grateful to have this job because it connects me to all of you out there.
05:44People from all over the world that I talk to pretty much every single day online.
05:48But I've noticed recently that sometimes talking to people online and connecting via the internet
05:52can feel a little bit superficial and not really all that special.
05:56So on Wednesday, I asked myself, how can I thank some of my fans?
06:00These people from all over the world that watch all of my videos and leave me nice comments on Instagram
06:05all the time.
06:06How can I thank them in a way that's a little bit more personal than just sending them a DM
06:11on Instagram or writing them an email?
06:13So I made a post on my Instagram asking my followers that wanted to receive a personalized postcard from me
06:18to send me a private message with their addresses.
06:20And I received addresses from over 1500 people from every corner of this planet.
06:27I went out and I got tons of New York City themed postcards and I just started writing.
06:32I truly, truly, truly wanted to send a postcard to everybody, but that just wasn't feasible.
06:37I had to narrow it down a little bit.
06:39So I went through and I selected people that lived in very diverse areas of the world.
06:43I have a list here of some of the places where these postcards went and I'm just going to read
06:47you a few.
06:47Australia, Slovakia, Germany, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, India, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Egypt, Dublin, Indonesia, Viena, and so much more.
06:58Hi Lucy, thank you so much for the postcard and the stickers.
07:01I'm so happy, so so happy right now.
07:04Thank you so much Lucy, you're the best.
07:06Many of these people have been supporting me on my career journey for over three years,
07:10so sending them a postcard is the least I can do.
07:16Thursday was all about doing something sweet for my work community.
07:20I've been working at Refinery29 for almost three years now,
07:23and it really is amazing how your coworkers start to feel like family here.
07:27Depending on what type of job you have and what kind of office environment you work in,
07:31you could potentially be spending more time at work than you are at home.
07:35So having colleagues around you that respect one another and that feel like friends is truly invaluable.
07:40At R29, we're on a mission to help women around the world feel, see, and claim their power.
07:46And working daily towards such a powerful goal really does bring us together.
07:50As a token of my gratitude and just to tell my coworkers how much I love them,
07:54I decided to bring them a little sweet treat on Thursday.
07:56I first considered just buying pizza and setting it out for everyone,
07:59but then I asked myself, what's one step of kindness above buying something?
08:04And of course, the answer is making something.
08:06I went to Doe, my favorite donut shop in New York City,
08:09and I went behind the scenes to their open kitchen to make some fresh donuts for my team.
08:14I went through the entire donut making process.
08:17First, flattening the dough, which by the way is made with a secret formula that they did not share with
08:21me.
08:22Next, hand cutting the donuts into circles and punching out the donut holes.
08:25And then after a two-step proofing process, frying the donuts gently to perfection,
08:30hand dipping them into various flavors, and adding toppings.
08:33As I was in there, I realized, wow, I'm here shooting an episode of Try Living with Lucy,
08:37but this is so meant to be a Lucy for Hire as a donut maker.
08:42So comment below if you want to see that Lucy for Hire episode.
08:44I made 18 giant donuts, and I mean giant, like the size of my face.
08:49I brought them back to Refinery29, and I sent out a mass email to the video department.
08:53Seeing everyone flood over for an afternoon snack with giant smiles on their face
08:57was exactly what I was hoping to see.
09:00Hibiscus, blood orange, lemon powder.
09:04And speaking of community, especially when it comes to food,
09:07there are so many ways that you can help out people who are actually in need of food.
09:11For this entire week, I've been taking leftovers and extra food to go every single time I eat out,
09:16and I've been giving it to the homeless and to hungry people on the streets and in the subways.
09:21And I actually didn't film any of these moments because I really didn't want to exploit the homeless people by
09:26putting them in this video.
09:27But it's the action that counts.
09:28So when it comes to doing random acts of kindness, it's not about sharing that you're doing it with others.
09:33It's just about doing it.
09:36According to an R29 article, being nice actually comes along with some health benefits.
09:41You'll feel happier, your heart will be healthier, you might even be less stressed in your daily life.
09:46For my final day of this challenge, I asked myself,
09:48what's one part of the world that needs the most kindness right now?
09:52And the answer was simple.
09:53You're looking at it.
09:55The internet.
09:55I love the internet and particularly YouTube for so many reasons.
09:59It's honestly how I built my career and how I've been able to connect with so many people from around
10:04the globe.
10:04But the internet can also be filled with a lot of darkness.
10:08When many people go to post online, they feel very empowered because they're hidden behind a computer screen.
10:12So they're not afraid to write nasty or negative things that they most likely wouldn't say to a person's face.
10:18I truly think that everyone that's building a YouTube audience should be applauded for being unafraid to put themselves out
10:24there.
10:25Because it's really not an easy thing to do.
10:27What's up? Welcome back to my channel.
10:28If you've never been to this channel before, my name is Julia.
10:31I found some up and coming YouTubers actually by looking through the Refinery29 comment section.
10:36I love creating videos.
10:37I watched some of the videos that they've worked so hard on.
10:40And Friday's random act of kindness was all about sprinkling a little bit of love on some of these channels.
10:47There's so much power in positivity and sometimes just receiving one positive comment can push someone who was about to
10:54stop to keep moving and to keep creating.
10:56So now I encourage all of you to try five days of random acts of kindness.
11:01Write them down in your bullet journal.
11:03Write them on an Instagram post and tag me in it.
11:05Or just do it and don't write it anywhere and don't tell anyone.
11:08There are millions of ways that you can try this challenge for yourself and spread some kindness even without spending
11:13any money.
11:14Everything from giving out a compliment to babysitting for a friend for free to leaving encouraging notes in random places
11:20on public transportation.
11:21When it comes to random acts of kindness, there is no right and wrong and there is certainly no act
11:26that's too small.
11:27Comment below to let me know what you want to see me try next time and we'll see you then.
11:30Bye!
11:31Hey YouTube, thanks for watching five days of random acts of kindness.
11:35Click here for another video on our channel.
11:37Right here to subscribe to Refinery29.
11:40And here for my personal channel.
11:42See ya!
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