Kindness isn’t seasonal – and neither is love.
February is often, and quite rightly, associated with love as we celebrate Valentine’s Day. But at The Fuze Foundation, we believe love goes far beyond romantic relationships. It lives in compassion, connection, and the small, everyday acts of kindness that quietly shape our communities.
In this reflective piece, Sam Conroy reminds us that kindness doesn’t belong to one season, one campaign, or one day of the year. Drawing on personal experience and gentle observation, Sam explores how even the smallest gestures can make a profound difference. Often in ways we’ll never fully see.
As we focus this month on love, compassion, and connection, and as we announce our new charity partners, this blog feels especially timely. It’s a reminder that love, at its most powerful, shows up in ordinary moments and that every one of us has the ability to make the world a little softer, every single day.
Every Christmas, I find myself getting reflective. Not in a morbid or overly philosophical way as Christmas is without a shadow of a doubt, my most favourite time of the year. It’s the season where kindness seems to spill over the edges a little. People seem to soften. Smiles seems to be given out more readily and easily. Small gestures seem to land with far greater impact. And people simply look up more and notice each other. But my reflections do run a little deeper. And every year, without fail, I’m taken back to my time working in homelessness services.
December in those settings was always a contradiction. On the one hand, there were these incredible flashes of humanity. Tiny gestures that meant everything and bigger acts of generosity that seemed to just come out of nowhere. People were looking out for each other in ways that were raw and real. But it was also a time when the struggles people carried didn’t just magically pause for the holidays. If anything, the season could make things harder. Loneliness felt sharper. Pressures increased – and not just financially. Expectations rose. And as the world wrapped itself in tinsel, the realities people were facing, stayed exactly the same as they were.
So now I’ve brought everyone down a little bit, let’s uplift it and bring it all back up! Because this isn’t a story about struggle and trying to solve all the worlds’ problems. It’s a story about kindness. And not the Christmas only kind, that rocks up once a year and gets dusted down with the Christmas decorations, kind of kindness. It’s the everyday, all year round, small acts of kindness, that I’m talking about. It’s a reminder that kindness all year round, is one of the very best parts of our humanity.
The truth is most of us walk through the world completely oblivious to the majority of people we pass. We are in our own heads, in our own to-do-lists, in our own wee bubbles so we don’t overly notice everything and everyone around us. But for some people, we are the moment that they see. We are the face they clock. That person who stands out in their day, in the crowd, for reasons we’ll never know. And that’s where small gestures matter more than we think.
A smile. A nod. A ‘morning’ or ‘good afternoon’ that takes literally half a second to say. These tiny, almost throwaway acts can land like a beam of light for someone who needed it. And they cost nothing, absolutely nothing, yet they have the ability to shift the whole tone of a person’s day. And that really is the heart of it.
Kindness doesn’t need a season or a spotlight. It doesn’t need a charity campaign or a countdown to the 25th . It lives in the ordinary moments we barely register. That smile to a stranger. Holding the door open for someone. The asking ‘you alright’? that someone didn’t expect, but maybe just really needed.
We don’t always know what people are carrying because we don’t always see the full picture. But we do have this quiet ability to make the world a fraction softer for the people we cross paths with, whether we know them or not. Whether it’s December or a damp and cold Tuesday in July. We all have the ability to make a difference.
And that’s the bit I keep coming back to. That kindness isn’t seasonal. It’s a superpower we already all possess, tucked heart-warmingly into our pocket of everyday life, just waiting to be used all year round. And when we do choose to use it that’s when kindness shows its true strength. That’s when kindness is at its most powerful, rooted in the everyday places we simply never expect. When ordinary people make an extraordinary impact. No matter the season.
So use your kindness superpower wisely! The world feels so much different when you do. And its unequivocally, stronger than you think.
About the Author – Sam Conroy
Sam has been a Humanist Celebrant since 2023, a path that opened up after she fell in love completely with planning her own wedding, which lit up a part of her she didn’t want to switch off. That experience opened her eyes to how meaningful a well-told story and a well held moment can be; that sharing someone’s story is where the real magic sits. Humanist values sit at the heart of Sam’s work because they mirror her own: kindness, equality, and the belief that every life and every story deserves to be honoured with warmth and sincerity. Sam has a deep respect for every person’s story and believes in the power of human connection while working across both weddings and funerals, honouring life, and love in all their many forms.
Sam is passionate about being a celebrant because it lets her do what she values most, honouring people’s lives and celebrate their love with warmth, dignity, and genuine human connection. And the humbling privilege of marking life’s biggest moments and standing alongside people as they honour what matters most.
