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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Iowa chapter.

That moment when you find out the person in front of you at Starbucks paid for your tall iced mocha. Pure happiness. (Thank you a million, kind person.)

(Photo Credit: 1001reason.blogspot.com)

But then the thought crosses your mind, why this person? Why me? Has karma finally caught up on my good deeds? (Possibly, yes.)

Paying it forward is one of the newest fads to become important during our social life right now–but one that actually might be here to stay. Paying it forward could mean paying for someone’s coffee, tossing a few extra quarters into someone’s parking meter, or leaving a generous tip for your hardworking waiter/waitress. It only needs one person to start the trend to better someone’s day, week or even life.

These gestures can be the turning point in someone’s day, and completely turn them in a better direction because you never know what someone might be going through silently. If more people did one nice thing a day for someone, think of how drastically our world could change.

While this specific example deals with money, you can pay it forward with compliments or even just a smile to a stranger. I know these are all clichĂ© examples we learned in elementary school about kindness–but they could be so meaningful to someone you don’t even know.

Think about it, one smile could be the best thing that a person receives all day, try it out tomorrow and see how paying it forward can make you and the people around you feel.  

Hi, my name is Lily Burns and I am a freshman attending Iowa. Learning all the tricks of college including when it's mini corn dog day and how fast I can make it to my 8:30am classes. Go Theta, go Hawks!!
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