Bring A Third Sandwich

This post originally published May 22, 2019

When people think of generosity today, they often relate it to money. When someone donates money to charity or always gives their change to the homeless guy outside the store, we label them as a “generous” person. Which is never a bad thing, however we wanted to define the non-monetary side of generosity. 
  
We found that one of the most effective ways to perform this level of generosity is to remove our egos. When we remove our ego, we are able to put our wants and needs aside and make more time for the wants and needs of others. For example, we can give respect by putting our phones down and actually listening to what the person in front of us is saying. By doing this, we’re giving that person our full attention and crafting a reply because we heard and understand their words, not just for the sake of replying. We can give honesty by being truthful in all situations. We can give patience by suppressing our anger when something is taking too long or someone messed up. We can give appreciation by actually meaning the phrase “How are you doing today?” in any service environment. 
  
These tasks will implement generosity in our daily lives and they don’t include dropping a single penny. Others often notice these practices because they are so much less common. Bonus points, they also make the giver feel good too! We gain happiness through being generous. As college students, we might not have the fullest pockets but we do have the fullest hearts, and we’re trying our best. Sometimes that means we need to take time alone in order to be our best self, and that is just as important. Self love is being generous to yourself. Generosity comes in all forms, so why do we limit it to money?

- Sarah xx