Back in my younger days I was a bouncer at a local bar with my cousin. We were the smallest of all the bouncers, but we made up for it with our big attitudes and big mouths. (At least that's what I was told.) I was five foot six and two hundred pounds while my cousin was five foot seven and around two hundred and sixty pounds.
My job was usually working the door and my cousin would walk the floor and make sure everyone was having a good time and keep track of the idiots that weren't there for a good time.
The owner of the bar was around six foot three and around three hundred pounds, his job was to make sure we were always doing our job. He was as we hillbillies would say a big sonabitch. He was also very old school.
Me and my cousin were taught growing up that when you left each other's presence for any amount of time you gave each other a hug and said I love you.
This did not go over well with the owner of the bar.
At the end of the first night, I worked at the bar I found my cousin as I was getting ready to leave to give him a hug and say I love you. After the hug we heard the owner of the bar scream at us "DON'T BE DOING THAT SHIT IN MY BAR, YALL WANNA TOUCH ON EACH OTHER THAN GO SOMEWHERE ELSE AND DO IT."
If you remember at the beginning of this blog, I said we were big attitudes and big mouths. WELL
After we heard what he yelled we looked at each other and just smiled. Then without a word we ran over and grabbed him up and started hugging as big of hugs as we could and started telling him how much we loved him. He proceeded to push us away and tell us to "cut that shit out and quit touching me." We just laughed at him as we walked away.
Every night after that we would find him at closing before we left and would shower him with hugs, and I love yous. Every night he would scream different obscenities at us until we would let him go. We did this every night for months, until one night I was working the door and my cousin was right there beside me. The bar had closed, and we didn't see the owner, so we decided to just give each other a hug and head home.
After our hug and I love you, I grabbed the door handle to leave and all I could hear was the owner scream across the bar, "HEY YOU TWO BETTER NOT LEAVE YET I DIDN'T GET MY DAMN HUG."
How would you like a hug from these two crazy kids?
A few years later I ran into the bar owner's wife and she thanked me for changing their family's life. She said her husband had made it a requirement that when someone they loved left there presence they had to give each other a hug and say i love you. It brought them closer as a family and she felt their love for each other became stronger.
Hugs have been proven to have different effects on the brain. Enhances happiness, reduces stress, and releases Oxytocin (the bonding hormone) in the brain.
Oxytocin creates bonds between people and promotes a sense of connection, trust, and sympathy.
Hugs also stimulate the happy hormones in the brain, such as Serotonin and Endorphins, which help create a sense of well-being and joy.
Hugs have also been shown to reduce Cortisol.
Cortisol is a stress hormone that contribute to feelings of anxiety and depression.
In closing all I can say is "go give someone a hillbilly hug and say I love you." It will literally make you and them happier and help get rid of some of the daily crap we all deal with.
From me to you I'm sending a virtual hug and I love you.
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