You mean you can get free stuff just for making people smile? Tell me more...
Throughout Basti’s life, he taught me and everyone he met, the most important lesson: spreading positivity, love and kindness is as easy as wearing a smile. That’s the reason I started this page, simply because Basti being Basti could make me smile at any time of day and that kind of magic is something you can’t keep to yourself.
After he crossed the rainbow road, on the 4th of June 2018, I so desperately wanted to honour his life and let him live on somehow (as any dog mom would). I struggled for days with tattoo ideas, art installations, jewelry options, you name it! And then I realized how I was doing exactly what Basti never did: I was being selfish. I wanted his memory to live on just for me. But he would never want that.
So along came #SmileForBasti! It’s a simple competition that I run most months (when I can afford it!) from the 4th for a whole week. The challenge is just to share some extra kindness and smiles. I try come up with a different theme each time and make it more than just posting the same kind of cute doggie picture (but of course, those cute doggie pictures make you smile anyway so!).
It starts out as me hunting down something special and sponsoring the prizes or begging people to help sponsor, but often such amazing people have sponsored some extras on their own which is absolutely incredible. So thank you thank you thank you to everyone who’s joined in so far! The prizes are generally from local companies but with international quality (because local is lekker-er). They range from toys to accessories to treats to everything and anything that would make a little pup’s day. Half the time I want to win the prize for myself because they’re that cool, let alone for my dogs.
I’ve also done adapted versions where I’ve teamed up with some amazing people to honour their special furkids who they’ve also lost (go check out #SmileForOurBoys on Instagram!). It’s so important for this challenge just to share the love to all the corners of the earth and to fill the void in people’s hearts with some kindness, even if it’s only for a little while, just so they know that their pup lives on in everyone’s smiles.
And lastly, probably the biggest point of all of this, is to share love and kindness because you want to. I never ever (repeat never!) ask for people to follow me or any of my partners or even share my page or the competition for “bonus points”. Tagging friends, sharing and all of that is always optional and great but only if it’s done to share the love and not gain popularity.
It’s called selfless love and it’s what Basti did every day of his life, even at the very end. It’s what I want to share with the world on his behalf. If one little dog could change one average life forever, imagine what ten smiling dogs could do.
Keep an eye out for the next competition.
In the meantime, here are some competition hashtags you can follow on Instagram:
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