Love is love, and Jen Kramer was looking for it.
Not in the romantic sense of the word, she’s already taken, but the kind that lives and works quietly, often unnoticed, that we tend to take for granted.
We’ll let Jen share the story in her words . . .
“I’ve never been a New Year’s resolution kind of gal, but I read an article last year that said, ‘Instead of something arduous, why don’t you add something to your life that would be meaningful.’ I thought, ‘Huh. That would be fun.'”
Jen continues, “Gratitude is about lifting other people, and I’m a better person when I’m lifting other people.”
When 2017 was winding down, Jen’s aunt, who was about to face surgery, was on her mind, so Jen wrote a post on Facebook about her.
That ended up becoming the first of many posts for Jen’s #yearoflove.
Jen went on to write a ‘love letter’ every day for a year, identifying a different person with each post of love. Some were friends and family, some were strangers, and some were acquaintances, or other people who shes crossed paths with in her life.
“I didn’t have any strategy to whom I picked or why I picked them. Mostly it was what was overwhelming me in the moment. My boyfriend would say, ‘Who you gonna drop the love bomb on today?'” Jen said.
“In a lot of ways, it’s been an experiment in healing, [and] somehow, some way, showing love, expressing love, feeling love, exhibiting love has been a way to sort of navigate those moments of sadness – whether it’s about a person or a way things used to be or a way we used to treat each other.”
“Why don’t we say those things to people while they’re here?” she says “Maybe this will be a little lesson to myself and the few people who’ve sort of followed along. It’s easy to be kind, and it’s easy to tell people how you feel.
Continuing, Jen says, “This was an experiment that absolutely altered the course of my life and the way I go through life, and it cost me nothing.”
In conclusion, Jen leaves us with the best advice we can take into our day, saying, “Where I went, love showed up. I took it with me everywhere. I looked for love everywhere. You just have to look.”
(MSN)
