Kirsty Bosley: Don't be a stranger to spreading some love this Christmas

Everything about the festive season is about togetherness and love. But the 'most wonderful time of the year' isn't necessarily wonderful for everyone.

Last year, the Samaritans received around 244,000 calls during the Christmas period. The 'season to be jolly' brings with it so much fun, but it also magnifies issues that can leave people feeling utterly helpless; debt, redundancy or loneliness to name a few.

I know it makes for sad reading at a time when we should be harking the herald angels and putting up our Christmas tree, but the reality is that not everyone is opening their advent calendar with happy anticipation.

As I look back over 2014, I can't forget how sad I felt when I heard the news that actor Robin Williams had died.

With no obvious cause for sadness, one of the world's most beloved comics took his own life. With a host of top Hollywood movies on his curriculum vitae, there was no clear purpose for his suicide.

And the fact is, sometimes there is no one thing that these tragedies can be blamed on.

So what can we do?

Volunteering is a great step, but it's not possible for everyone. Being the person on the other end of the Samaritans helpline must be an exceptionally difficult task that can be challenging and emotionally draining.

There are things that we can all do, however, that don't include extensive effort. The easiest one of these is the most effective: Just be a little bit kinder to other people.

Our whole lives are filled with little annoyances, so why do we all make it more difficult for each other? I'm as guilty of it as anyone, particularly if I'm having a bad day.

I'll tut and huff at someone if they accidentally wander in front of me in a bus queue and I'll get annoyed when my phone rings for the 15th time that hour. Sometimes I'm not particularly polite to the person on the other end, even though I know it's not their fault.

I once heard that you should always pay a kindness forward, no matter how small.

If someone holds the door open for you, then do the same for someone else (though, we're British, so that should be a given anyway!)

This may not save lives, but the fact of the matter is that you never really know what someone else is going through. Just because someone isn't crying doesn't mean they're not feeling sad.

Again, us Brits have a knack for the stiff upper lip, and we won't complain if we can help it.

With that, this Christmas I'm going to try to be more kind and considerate to people. Even strangers that shove in the bus queue or drivers that cut us up at junctions. Maybe that person is rushing to the hospital to attend the birth of their child. Maybe they're just being a jerk, but for all the good it really does us to shout and honk our horns, we should give them the benefit of the doubt.

They say that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can cause a tornado half way around the world.

Think of that when you're an inch away from shouting at a queue pusher.

• Need help or want to volunteer? Call 08457 90 90 90 or visit www.samaritans.org

@KBosley_Star