I Googled ‘How To Be A Nicer Person’ – It Is Not As Easy At It Sounds

This past Saturday I was in a funk, I did not wake up that way, nothing specific set me off - but before I knew it I was in a really bad mood. Lucky for my boyfriend Nick, he was the only one around, so he was forced to bear the brunt of my anger.

As I sat on my couch being pissed off for really no reason at all, I thought to myself 'you know what Maggie? You are really not a nice person'. Tough pill, but somewhat correct. Don't get me wrong, I am not a terrible person either. I just tend to lash out at the ones who are closest to me in my life when I am upset. You may know the feeling, because you might do the same thing. I am not proud of it, but I do acknowledge it. Chris Monroe will also concur.

So there I sat, feeling bad for snapping at Nick, and I Googled these seven words, 'How to be a nicer person'. Can you believe the first thing that Google came back with was a list of 30 ways to be nicer. 30 ways? I was just looking for two or three ways, I can't possibly do 30 things to be a nicer person. Who has that kind of time?

I did skim through the list, and these are some suggestions,

• Don't be critical.
• Smile and laugh.
• Don't talk about yourself as much.
• Be interested in others, talk, ask questions.
• Be the bigger person in all situations.
• Don't make jokes or prank others (I cannot commit to this one at all).

I don't know if that list will stick with me, so I am just going to make up my own three ways to be a nicer person, they include the following,

• Try not to fly off the handle over the littlest things, or even big things.
• Smile and nod.
• Listen more.

If all else fails, insert alcohol. Here's to being nicer. Ugh.