Everybody has those days—those days where everything seems to be going wrong, days where you are honestly just sad or upset, days where if you could just hear one good thing it would make it all a whole lot better. Now some may have them more than others, but it is a universal truth about human beings that we will sometimes be sad. That sometime, our mental health may not be in the state that we want it in. Often we take to distractions to get away from it all, whether they be friends, video games, music, being active, and many, many more.

One outlet today is social media. People go and watch funny videos on Youtube, or talk with their best friends over Snapchat. Social media is different however, as it is often criticized for making things worse or not actually helping you deal with the problems you are facing. Many of these criticisms are valid. There are plenty of toxic people on the internet that definitely won’t be there to help you when you are not feeling great. On the other side of the coin however, there are people out there who do actually try and help others.

Recently, some of you may have been followed by an account on Instagram named @action_for_kindness. This isn’t just another random account trying to get follows. This is an account about kindness. @action_for_kindness has a couple key parts to it. For one, the account posts a kind message every once in a while. Things like, “You are making a difference and these differences and add up until they become something grand,” and, “Don’t wait until you reach your goal to be proud of yourself.” These are to encourage everyone to take a step back and recognize one another—just a bunch of positive messages for everyone to see.

There is another key part that they have started, and that is the Kindness challenge. Since the first of February, @action_for_kindness has posted a challenge every day on their story. These challenges are meant to empower people to be kind to each other and to form connections. Some of their challenges have been things like, “Give 10 people a compliment today” and “Bring food donations to a local food bank.”

Seeing so many kind and thoughtful messages in ones feed is a wonderful idea that was thought up by Lina Spiller and Kara Trombley. The two have teamed up to make this account as a part of their Senior Service Project for Advisory. However, their goals for the account go far beyond what the project requires. Lina stated that they designed the account to, “Promote random acts of kindness every day and promote mental health in the community.” They want to support people all around the community and offer advice for people to, as Kara put it, “ do easy things that can make someone else’s day or help take care of yourself.” With the commitment they have shown, the account is already gaining traction and it is just getting started. No matter how far they go, their call to action is one for all of us to take inspiration from. They are, “Taking small steps to make the world a kinder and more forgiving place.”