Recently, I watched a video of a woman talking about how her therapist had just taught her the difference between being nice and being kind. 📊💡
In the video, she was crying tears of astonishment because her entire life she’d assumed the definitions of these two things were interchangeable. 🔃
Well, let me tell ya, I could’ve benefited a few years back from a session or two with this lady’s therapist. 🛋 🤓
I could completely relate. 🙇🏻♀️
This resonated with me because I didn’t distinguish between nice and kind until much later in life. 🗓
Like, pushing 40 kind of later. 🤫👵🏻
For a long time, I believed pleasing others meant I was kind and not pleasing others meant I was unkind. 😇 😈
I was even told this by certain people when I didn’t meet their specific expectations. 👀
It wasn’t until I became frustrated with feeling I needed to please everyone all the time in order to be a good human, that I looked up the actual dictionary definitions of both words. 📖
✅ Nice 🟰 pleasant; agreeable; satisfactory.
✅ Kind 🟰 having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature.
What? 🤯
I couldn’t believe how different the two meanings were. ☯️
Pleasant 🆚 Friendly
Agreeable 🆚 Generous
Satisfactory 🆚 Considerate
The definition of kind seemed so honest, caring and introspective. Nice just seemed a bit people pleasing and inauthentic. 🤷🏻♀️
Hmmm…🤔
Have you ever had someone be “nice” to your face then say awful things behind your back? 🔙🗣
I don’t think a kind person would do that. 🚫
Have you ever heard someone say “nice” words to convince you of something, only to see their actions prove otherwise? 🥸
I don’t think a kind person would do that. 🚫
I believe a kind person would be genuine, direct, and truthful. A kind person would be less worried about putting up a facade, and more concerned with being authentic. 💯
By definition, I believe it’s a lot easier to fake niceness than it is to fake kindness. 👎🏻
I’m not a fan of faking it. 🙅🏻♀️
Don’t get me wrong, I think we should all be nice to each other when it’s sincere. Often though, nice is used to hide the truth or disguise insincerity.🫥🎭
That’s simply not nice at all. 😢
So, now that I’m a bit more educated on the subject, I like to always ask myself the question “Am I doing this just to be nice, or am I doing it to truly be kind?” ❓🙏🏻
The reminders below help me answer that question pretty quickly. 👇🏻
💙Kindness is honest, even when someone may not like what it has to say.
💛Kindness is benevolent and gives with no strings attached.
🤍Kindness is genuine and doesn’t fake it.
❤️Kindness loves unconditionally, without expectation.
💜Kindness is direct and openly expresses truth.
🧡 Kindness is caring and deeply concerned with the well-being of others.
💚Kindness is all about action and not just words.
🤎Kindness says “no” without being mean or feeling guilty.
🤍Kindness is empathetic and shows real compassion.
🧡Kindness doesn’t care who’s watching.
💙Kindness is strong, brave, and speaks up.
💛Kindness sets healthy boundaries and doesn’t enable bad behavior.
🖤Kindness doesn’t lie or deceive others.
❤️Kindness believes in fairness and equality.
💜Kindness is authentic and can’t be manufactured.
