By Cammi Woodall

Have you seen the meme on Facebook or Pinterest of the little girl with a purple hairbrush? You haven’t? Go to Google and look for ‘tantrum girl with purple hairbrush,’ It’ is totally worth it. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Isn’t she adorable? Haven’t we all felt that frustration and not been able to act on it? This clip comes from the 90’s movie Look Who’s Talking Now, the third installment in the John Travolta/talking baby series. The girl in the clip is named Julie and she is mad at her brother. You know how it is with siblings – you can’t wallop them or send them back to the hospital. So you grit your teeth, shake your purple hairbrush, and let off that steam.

The reason I chose this Small Act of Kindness is because of my sister Holly. Back before Christmas, she was having one of ‘those’ days. As a United Methodist pastor, she was trying to juggle her congregation’s needs, family, friends, daily stress, and the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Feeling overwhelmed and attacked, she posted this meme on her Facebook page with a joking(?) threat of ‘Don’t make me get my purple hairbrush!’ Several people responded and ‘liked’ it with the laughing emoji. Holly had a good laugh, relieved some stress, and didn’t think too much else about it.

A few days later she returned to her office after being out of town at meetings. On her desk was a gift for her. Someone had gone to lots of trouble to make it look nice with a homemade gift bag and gold confetti strips. Inside was a sparkly purple hairbrush. There was no note and to this day she doesn’t know who gave it to her.

That purple hairbrush has become an official mascot/stress reliever for their office. Anytime she or the church secretary feel like each other may be getting angry or stressed, they joke ‘Hang on, let me get that hairbrush!’ That is their cue to step back, take a deep breath, and find a constructive way to deal with the situation.

In Holly’s words – “Every time I use it – for brushing my hair AND threatening, it makes me happy to remember that a good friend went to the trouble, not just to buy a gift and wrap it for me, but to find a purple hairbrush just because I liked it in a Facebook post. It was a great gift that still makes me very happy!”

Each of us face trials and tribulations each day and how we handle the stress of those situations is what defines us. It is easy to give in, to be rushed, terse, even hurtful or hateful. So the next time you feel yourself welling up with a harmful emotion, take a deep breath and shake your purple hairbrush!

Click to tweet: Small acts of kindness. Each of us face trials and tribulations each day and how we handle the stress of those situations is what defines us. #amwriting #kindnessmatters

Daughter, sister, friend, huge nerd, procrastinator… All are words Cammi Woodall uses to describe her self. A new one she is using is writer. That is scary! Cammi is a writer. Her hands shake when she says it or writes those words.

After keeping her stories hidden away for decades, she’s decided 2018 is her year to jump out of her comfort zone and get her writing to the public.

Despite darker reading habits, a comic thread weaves its way through her fictional stories. Even in emotional pieces, her characters use humor to cope with everyday tragedies. Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying!

Cammi has contributed articles to inspiredprompts.com and has become a contributor for 2018. She looks forward to the day she can list the titles of her completed novels!

You can reach Cammi at https://www.facebook.com/cammiwoodall or follow her at https://pinterest.com/cammiwoodall.