Tough. Challenging. Unrelenting. This is what this year has been like for us. But 2020 is coming to an end. Finally! It’s no wonder that some of us are feeling anxious, stressed out, and just… tired from everything that’s happened so far. Fortunately, life isn’t just doom and gloom.
People being the best they can be and doing wholesome things for others are the main reasons to keep going. We wanted to pick your spirits up for the holiday season and to show you the bright side of life, so the Bored Panda team lovingly handcrafted you this list. Remember to upvote the most uplifting stories, dear Pandas. When you’re done boosting your mood, we’d absolutely adore hearing what wholesome things you and your loved ones have been up to this year. So drop us a line or two in the comment section—we can’t wait to hear from you! Meanwhile, let’s get into why giving is good for everyone and why thinking that people are inherently selfish might just be wrong.
Bored Panda wanted to learn more about the relationship between helping others and happiness, so we reached out to ‘Action for Happiness,’ a movement dedicated to creating a happier and more caring society. The movement’s patron is none other than the Dalai Lama. Vanessa King, the Head of Psychology at ‘Action for Happiness,’ told Bored Panda that doing things for others is a key part of keeping ourselves happy. “If you think about it human beings are social species, we evolved to live in groups so working together and doing things to help each other is the social glue that keeps us together.” Read on for King’s detailed insights about altruism, the spirit of giving, and happiness.
#1 Just Finished My Chemotherapy Treatment And All That’s Left Is Steroids And Radiotherapy And Then I’m Cancer Free
Image source: 123uno456
#2 Be Kind To Each Other
Image source: mhdksafa
#3 Hello World, I’m 15 Minutes Old
Image source: Mari Gavasheli
#4 When You See A Guy Bottle Feeding A Kitten On The Subway
Image source: Gillian Rogers
#5 Colorado Man Reunited With His Donkey, Ennis, After Fire Swept Through His Town
Image source: BarefootUnicorn
#6 The Love For His Son Never Died
Image source: VVSLaxman281
#7 Plastic Correction In A Boy With Crouzon’s Syndrome. He Even Showed Improvement In Vision And Breathing
Image source: craniofacial.org
#8 Today Is The Day This Little Lady Becomes My Daughter. Happy Adoption Day
Image source: Sdoeden87
#9 After Not Seeing My Grandparents For Months, They Finally Figured Out How “To Work Facetime.” This Was My Grandpa’s Face When He Saw Me
Image source: bogar13
#10 Went To The Shelter To Look At Dogs, They Didn’t Have Any There But Once This Lil Girl Saw Me She Started Pawing At Her Cage. Now I Have A New Forever Friend
Image source: bmoneyyy9
#11 My 93 Year Old Dementia Patient Painted My Cat, I Have No Cat But I’m Starting To Fall In Love With This One
Image source: corry26
#12 “If I Birthed 6 Kids, I’m Gonna Get 6 Kids Out”. Super-Mom Emma Schols Saved All Of Her 6 Kids From Their Burning Home
Even tho she was bleeding and losing skin, hair burnt like coal, she kept going. Emma got 93% burn injuries, yet still survived. A Hero.
Image source: aftonbladet.se
#13 I Needed This
Image source: Nemisis1000
#14 So True
#15 In Case There Is Good News
Image source: annastayshaa
#16 My Cousin Was Fishing On The River This Weekend And Rescued This Deer Who Was So Tired He Was Starting To Drown
Image source: One-Spelling-Error
#17 A Wonderful Young Man
Image source: karenalea
#18 Skin-Colored Band-Aids For Everyone
Image source: apollontweets
#19 I’m A Horse Vet. This Adorable Little Guy Fell Asleep On My Feet While I Talked To His People
Image source: quantizedd
#20 2020 Ain’t All Bad! I Asked This Handsome Fellow On The Right To Marry Me And He Said Yes
Image source: andmancan
#21 My Daughter’s Letter To Her Teacher
Image source: genuinesasksealskin
#22 An Autistic Boy, Who Can’t Be Touched, Connects With A Service Dog, As His Mom Bursts Into Tears Of Hope And Joy
I’m not sure why, but people still ask us why we place service dogs with children sometimes. Let me help you understand, from a momma who knows first hand:
See this moment? I’ve never experienced a moment like this.
This picture was taken near the end of the day after my autistic five year old was finally able to sit down with his new Service Dog Tornado. He flew across the entire ocean, stopped in multiple states, and uprooted his entire routine to travel the globe for this. He was so overwhelmed through the day that he had to leave to take a break for a couple hours before he could come back. This boy is the strongest child I have ever met; he has faced countless rude and ignorant adults and children who do not understand him, who have hurt him, and who have not valued him because he is different. This picture captures the face of a mother who saw her child, who she can’t hug, wash, dress, snuggle and touch freely lay on his new Service dog of his own free will, with a purposeful unspoken attachment. This is the face of a mom who has seen her son experience countless failed social interactions on the playground in an attempt to have a friend. Any friend. Any kind of connection. She has sat with her son while he has cried at night for months because he has no consistent connections outside of the family no matter how hard he tries and no matter what he works hard on in his Autism therapies. It doesn’t transfer to the natural occurring world for him. And now she is sitting behind her son silently watching this moment, with the air sucked from her lungs, and no words to say.
Holding her mouth and silently crying because she doesn’t want to distract him from the moment and break him away from a pure, honest, and truly fulfilling moment for her son-of his own free will. This is truly magic. Words cannot explain it.
I have cried so many times for this boy, but this is the very first time I have cried for a reason like this.
It’s new, it’s painful, it’s wonderful, and it’s grateful. I will always stand behind this boy (probably still crying ) but I am grateful that he will have Tornado to stand beside him. The 4 Paws magic is real. The wait is long, but this moment right here makes it worth every moment of waiting. It’s worth every fight for services for my son, every diagnosis, every new provider, every dollar spent, every paper filled out, every school meeting, every shed tear, every step forward, every step back, and every wonder of the unknown future. Some how because of this- because of Tornado- I know everything will be okay.
Image source: 4 Paws For Ability
#23 We Should All Strive To Treat One Another Like This 8 Year Old Treats People
Image source: leannaaross
#24 This Strong Dude, Ezra, Survived A Cardiac Arrest
Image source: Thereaper29
#25 Captain Suzy Garrett And Her First-Officer Daughter, Donna, Are The First Mother-Daughter Pair In History To Pilot A Commercial Skywest Airlines Flight Together
Suzy was one of the first dozen female pilots hired at Skywest and has been flying there for over 30 years
Image source: asianj1m
#26 I Got My Pup A Matching Chair So He Would Stop Stealing Mine. Needless To Say, He’s Very Pleased
Image source: GeneticCoder23
#27 My Mom Crochets And Donated 31 Blankets To Sick Children This Year
Image source: seacogen
#28 In 2019 I Got Way Too Drunk At The Office Christmas Party & Bet My Coworker That I Would Spend 2020 Getting Fit. I Kept My Promise And Won The Bet. I Am Proud
Image source: Asalami_Laykum
#29 A Kind Stranger Drove Two Hours And Used His Drone To Recover Meadow, Who Was Lost In The Woods For 10 Days
Meadow was missing in our town for over a week. It has been snowing and quite cold where we were, so the whole town rallied together to search for Meadow but to no avail. I thought I’d try my luck and share the lost dog poster on our local Subreddit. A stranger Redditor responded immediately and offered to look for Meadow with his drone. I asked the search team to give me the more precise coordinates and shared that with him. To be honest, I lost all hope at that point as it’s been more than 10 days. I also didn’t expect a stranger to go at the length it would require to look for Meadow.
Then at 3:30 PM yesterday, I got a ping that he found Meadow! The length this dude went to is insane: He drove 1.5 hours from where he was and spent forever until his drone went out of the battery to look for Meadow
Image source: butterscotcheggs
#30 My Husband Has Been Sober For 700 Days
Image source: HouseHolder87
#31 My 64-year-old Mother Told Us On Thanksgiving That She Got Accepted To A PhD Program At UPenn. It’s Never Too Late To Do What You Want
Image source: isadwatson
#32 My Wife’s Senior Dog Can’t Play Due To Arthritis But Our Puppy Loves Him Anyways
Image source: _petros
#33 Pay It Forward
Image source: SWS_FASTLab
#34 The Best Kind Of Phone Call
Image source: memezzer
#35 Saved A Cat In The Freeway Today I45 No Hesitation Pulled Over Immediately, Grabbed From Traffic
Image source: _ItsLy_
#36 Sikh Community Delivers Hundreds Of Meals To Lorry Drivers In Kent
Image source: Khalsa_Aid
#37 This Gem Of A Human Feeding The Stray Cat At My Apartment Complex And Giving Him An Umbrella Since It’s Raining
Image source: GreenAppleJones
#38 A Loggerhead Turtle Got Into A Boating Accident, Resulting In The Loss Of A Majority Of Its Lower Beak. Scientists Gave It A New 3D Printed Titanium Beak
He is now a cyborg turtle.
Image source: reddit.com
#39 I Only Rescued Her One Week Ago And She Loves Cuddling. I Haven’t Had To Take An Anxiety Pill Since Getting Her Because She’s Like The Ultimate Weighted Blanket
Image source: WrinklyDog1
#40 Family Moment Despite Covid-19
Image source: briannalhaynes
#41 I Wasn’t Allowed To Use A Notebook At My Cashier Job, So I Started Writing My Book About Bullying On Printed Out Receipts. This Year I Finally Published My Novel
Image source: ArbyLG
#42 My Grandpa Just Turned 64 Today. He Grew Up Poor And Had Never Had A Birthday Party. Today He Had His First One And You Can See The Happiness In His Smile
Image source: SwingSwong1234
#43 A Shop Owner Modified His Attic To Accommodate His Cats. Now He Is Under Constant Observation
Image source: 9999monkeys
#44 Volunteers All Over The World Hand Make Small Nests For Rescued Birds And Small Orphaned Mammals For Over 500 International Wildlife Rescues And Rehabbers
They belong to a non-profit called Wildlife Rescue Nests
Image source: wildliferescuenests
#45 We Got Married This Weekend
Image source: rileyharp88
#46 Been Gaming With This Dude For 15 Years. I Have Some Good Gaming Memories With Him. He Tried But Couldn’t Get PS5. Little Did He Know I Was Able To Get Him One
Looking forward to playing another generation with him
Image source: ghost_knight1121
#47 Wrist Surgery. My Surgeon Incised Around My Tattoo. He Could Have Not Cared And Cut Right Through It. Pretty Bro Move If You Ask Me
Image source: DRAWKWARD79
#48 I Couldn’t See My Family This Year (For Obvious Reasons) So Me And My Boy Made The Best Of It
Image source: macthesnackattack
#49 I Really Want To Pay It Forward
Image source: GolfDadNotes
#50 Sometimes I Throw Doggy Treats To My Landlords Dogs Out Of My Window, This Is Now What I See When I Look Out My Window
Image source: Tight-Start1795
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