Just Say "Hi"

As a teenager, I remember going to church and learning lessons about service. I didn’t understand when it was said that saying hello can be an act of service. It seemed like it was the bare minimum of what you could do to serve someone. Growing up, my parents had also always taught me to say hello to everyone, and I didn’t always like having to do it since I was incredibly self-conscious. But now I know better!

The bare minimum of just saying hello can be all that an anxious person needs.

In recent memories, the following situation happened many times: Someone who I knew would walk past me, and I would try to make eye contact with them to say hello, but they would continue on without saying anything. Whenever this happened, a whirlpool of negative emotions would flood my mind. “It must be because they don’t like me. Nobody likes me. I am never going to be good at befriending people.” These thoughts would escalate more and more, thus leading to sadness and despair. Another person’s act as simple as this gave me great anxiety and depression.

With help, I have been able to train my mind into a more healthy way of thinking. There are a million reasons why someone may not say hello to me. Maybe it’s because they are having a bad day. Maybe they are shy. Maybe their parents didn’t teach them to say hello and so they are not used to it. Maybe they are even more anxious than I am!

Another way to cope with anxiety is to accept the fact that, yes, maybe this person does NOT like you. Is it really the end of the world if that’s true, though? Jesus was the nicest, most likable person in the world and yet He was “^adespised and rejected of men” (Isaiah 53:3).

When someone hurts my feelings I can turn to the Savior and know that He understands what it is like to feel rejected. People have done worse things to me besides avoiding me, but I know that because Christ was willing to suffer through everything that we have gone through, “With his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) He has healed me from so much heartache, and through obedience to His commandments, He has helped me become a better person.

Instead of worrying about what other people think of me, I need to be more concerned about what I can control. I can be the one to say hello first, and even if they don’t respond in the most friendly way, at least I did my part to extend compassion towards someone else. I can choose to act as a true disciple of the Lord.

By serving others, even with the most absolute basic form of service, I have been able to feel better about myself. I have also been blessed, since there are some really cool people that I have befriended just by using the simple greeting of “hi.”

I sincerely encourage you to just say hello to everyone. It truly does make a difference.