We've all heard the saying that you never know how big of a difference a little kindness, a smile, or a compliment could make in someone's day.
Sometimes, it might make such a big difference, it'll improve their whole life.
Redditor Lightryoma asked:
"What is the most touching thing someone has said to you?"
Feeling Seen
"Someone once told me, "You make people feel seen.'"
"It hit me because it’s easy to go through life unnoticed, but knowing I could make someone feel valued, it stuck with me."
- Time_Teaching6500
"Never forget, 'People will never forget how you made them feel,' said Maya Angelou."
- Ishouldtrythat
Just Being There
"'You made my life better just by being in it.'"
"It was simple, but it really stuck with me."
- NancyDream22
Being There For Each Other
"A couple of weeks ago, I was alone in a city I didn't know, and I had my heart broken in a cafe."
"The waiter saw that I was upset and asked if I was okay."
"I WEPT, she sat with me and talked to me while I had my coffee and I ordered something to eat. I went to pay and found out she had paid for all of it (then I cried again). It was nice to have someone to sit with."
- Old-Assumption5052
A Hero
"My father-in-law has had five surgeries in the last two years, and it has been a long recovery, and because of that, I have been doing my best to help out by doing their yard work, loading up his wheelchair, etc. you know, just stuff you do for family."
"Well, just one day out of the blue, my mother-in-law texted me and just said, 'You're our hero,' and that has stuck with me."
- cocoboco91
A Gift Of Seeing The World
"I’m a Filipina and there was an elderly man in Miami with whom I struck up a conversation."
"He was gazing at my face and he said, 'So this is what your people look like. It’s like all the world combined.'"
- Rough3Years
"I'd take that as an amazing compliment, like somehow seeing your face let him see the world. Your face is his gift if waking up to that."
- TheNoseWhoKnows
Safe Vibes
"I work in a homeless shelter in a very red state. I'd just got done checking in a new person I'd just met. We were talking afterward and they told me that they were trans but not out. Later, I asked what made them feel like they could tell me that since it's a very red state, at a shelter run by evangelicals."
"They said, 'I don't know. Something about you. I just knew you were safe.'"
"That's the greatest compliment I've ever received."
- -braquo-
Beautiful Mind
"They said, 'Wow... you really have a beautiful mind.'"
"To this day, that's the best thing I've heard."
- Pipisito
"This is heartwarming. What was the context of this? Just genuinely curious!"
- IneedStanford
"Oh thank you! I was talking to someone online. We were discussing how society rates and values people, and he stopped talking for a moment and then said that. It was by far the best compliment I've ever received to this day."
- Pipisito
So Very Proud
"One of my students wrote me a letter on graduation that said he was severely depressed, and my talk with him about why he failed my exam changed his life, because no one had ever told him he was brilliant before."
"We later worked on research together and he said it was the best time in his life."
"We’re still in touch. He’s working on a Master's and plans to get a PhD."
"I’m so humbled by him and proud of him."
- yoteachcaniborrowpen
Chosen Family For The Win
"My friend told me that her husband told her, 'She's our family.' I've never felt that valued before, not even by my own biological family."
- lunamoth53
Through Thick And Thin
"I've lost many friends and family in my life, and a girl I was on-again, off-again with sent me this after my best friend of 32 years died tragically: 'I really have always admired how strong and sweet of a person you are in every unfair situation like this. It's such a big part of your character I really love.'"
- EL_CHUNKACABRA
In Sickness And In Health
"One night while in the newborn trenches with my son, I was struggling and crying. Just really emotional."
"I can’t remember exactly what I said, something about feeling ugly, and my husband who I had been with 10 years at that point told me, 'I have never been more attracted to you. Watching you be a mom to our son is beautiful. YOU are beautiful,' and it plays in my head still on hard days."
- ReefahWithKieffah
The Motivational Speech That Keeps On Giving
"Someone once told me, 'No one else is going to live your life for you. Make the choices that YOU want because only YOU are going to live with those choices.'"
"That is now a core value in my life. It resonates so deeply; I can’t explain how much those simple words touched me."
- Just1_Doom_2Scrollin
Heart-Warming Sentiments
"She said, 'You're the only person I've ever felt a genuine connection with... I don't know how I'd live without you; you're just always here for me in my hardest times.' That really melted my heart."
- Arromaticvanilla
Ending The Bullying Cycle
"I was getting picked on pretty badly in elementary school, and finally one day, I snapped and fought back to my bully. I felt really bad because I don’t like hurting people, but f**k, the chick wouldn’t leave me alone."
"I specifically remember my teacher telling me to 'never feel bad for sticking up for yourself.' I’m in my 30s now, and I still remember her saying that. And I have never let anyone else bully me again."
- dreamingnagem
Welcome Home
"I worked the front desk at a yoga studio/spa for a while. I loved it; interacting with all of the people that would come in gave me life."
"I didn’t realize how extroverted I actually was until I started working there. I got to know all the regulars, remembering everyone’s name and trying to make them all feel warm, welcome, and special."
"One day, one of the older regulars came in and handed me an envelope. He had typed me a letter that brought me to absolute tears, talking about how big my light was and how truly transformative my weekly welcome to him had been, as a person who had rarely felt welcome anywhere his whole life."
"At the time, I was struggling with a lot of my own darkness, and the fact that I had any ounce of light was genuinely news to me. My heart needed that."
- That_Cat7243
It's no wonder that these were such special and transformative moments for these Redditors.
It's important to remember how your kindness can improve someone else's life and how complimenting an already kind person could lift them up even more.
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