The Power of a Heartfelt Thank You Note

Who has made an impact in your life? Take the time this season to write them a heartfelt thank you note. You will not only encourage someone else, you'll encourage yourself as well.

Transcript

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and welcome to the podcast Working on Amazing. This is the podcast where we talk about the work that it takes to rebuild an amazing life.

And I use that word rebuild, because we're specifically designed for women who feel like they're starting over in the middle of their life. A few different things can make you feel that way.

For me, it was divorce for my sister, it was the death of her husband. When all your plans for the future have gone up in smoke, when your day-to-day life looks totally different, it really just feels like you're having to start over.

And that is overwhelming, that is lonely, it doesn't feel good. And so if that's you, I want to say, from the bottom of my heart, truly, I'm sorry. I know how bad that feels.

But I also am here to tell you, it gets better, so much better. You really aren't alone. You're actually in the right place.

Welcome. I'm so glad that you're here. So today is going to be a little bit of a different episode.

It's going to be a little bit shorter. This week is the week of Thanksgiving. So we're going to do a little bit shorter episode.

And we're going to talk about something to do between now and Christmas, like over the holidays, some things to think about. And I know last week we talked about gratitude, and we wrote a list of 100 things that we're thankful for.

And that seemed like a really big challenge, 100 things. But then we broke it down, and it was really doable, and it was like, so cool. I really am thankful for 100 things.

That's amazing, right? Well, today is going to be talking about gratitude too, and I'm sorry. I just feel like gratitude is so important.

And here we are at this national holiday, where we as a country celebrate Thanksgiving and what we're thankful for. So I have to just talk about it one more time in a little bit different way, okay?

So last week, we talked about things we're thankful for. We wrote a list, like I'm counting my blessings, right? This week, we're going to talk about people.

So I want you to think, and you probably have them listed on that list from last week, I want you to think about a few people that have really made a huge impact in your life. Maybe it was a teacher in high school or college. It was a professor.

Maybe it was a friend in college. Maybe you've lost touch with them a little bit. Maybe it was a coworker.

Maybe it was a pastor or a pastor's wife. But I want you to think about the people who've had an impact in your life, even if it was brief, even if they didn't stay a long time, but even if they did, I mean, it could be the whole gamut.

I'm just trying to help you think outside the box. It could be a family member. It could be somebody that you talk to every day.

But it also could just be just like a person that was part of your life for a season, but they made such a positive impact on your life.

I want you to think about maybe two or five people, no more than five, but two to five people that really, like, your life is better. Your mental health is better, because your life intersected with their life, and they made a positive impact on you.

I want you to think about that. And between now and Christmas, I want you to write them a thank you note. Not thank you for a gift you gave me, but thank you because you were the gift.

Your impact on my life was a gift, and I want to take time to acknowledge that. I want to take time to thank you for being who you were in my life and the difference you made to me. This practice is important for a couple of reasons.

First of all, when we're going through a really dark time, when we're going through a season of transition and change and everything in our life has been uprooted, it's really easy to feel like people have done us wrong. Am I right?

It's easy to feel really negative and feel like we've been wronged, and people didn't treat us right in certain areas.

And this practice reminds us that there are good people out there, and we are grateful for those good people, and they really did make a difference in our life.

This process takes our mind off the negative, and the things that have gone wrong, and puts it on the positive, and on the things that have gone right. And we need that reminder, constantly.

When we're going through a dark season, we have to physically shift our focus, often, okay? Because it will just, our gaze will drift down without even intending to.

That's just, sometimes when you're going through a dark season, it's just easy to look down, and we have to choose and physically move our gaze up.

And in writing letters to people who have positively impacted your life is such a good practice, because you are reminding yourself of the positive things out there, of the positive relationships, of the positive people.

I just want you to take some time and do that. So that's the first reason why I think it's really good.

The second reason is so you've started this goodwill, you've remembered positive things, you have kind of encouraged yourself, like, yeah, there are good people in the world, right? But then the second thing it does is it encourages someone else.

So it's one of these things that just expands, it multiplies, it grows, right? So I have done this thing, I've written this letter, and it encouraged me, and then I give the letter to somebody else, and it encouraged them.

And it's like, what a beautiful way to spread joy and encouragement. I will tell you, one time, I received a letter from somebody I only met one day.

I was working at a food pantry, and a girl came, and I spent time with her, and I prayed with her, and I got her some food, and we got her some clothes, we had some clothes, and she went on her way.

I didn't think about it, about a year later, she came back, and she didn't remember my name, but she remembered certain things, and she had a thank you letter for me, and I wasn't there the day that she came back, but the letter got back to me, and I

remembered her, and I remembered, because there was a red sweater, we found a red sweater for her, and she was very thrilled to have that sweater, and it was just something I remembered, but the fact that she took the time, I had just spent a few

hours with this woman, but it made such an impact on her life, that she wrote a thank you letter, and took the time to come back, and try to track me down, and get it to me. And a year later, I sat there, stunned and overwhelmed, and what she didn't

realize is, I was kind of feeling down, like is what I'm doing making a difference? I like to help and volunteer, but does it really matter? And that letter came at such a great time, and it encouraged me so much, and I cried, and I was like, I am

making a difference. It does work. Woohoo! It was beautiful.

So I know from receiving a letter like that, how beautiful it is. And I mean, like I said, I just spent a couple hours with her, but she was at a place in her life where she was on a precipice. So, you know, she was going to go one way or the other.

And somehow, by the grace of God, the encouragement that I gave her helped put her on a better path. And that's the way she saw it and what she said in her note.

Sometimes somebody doesn't realize the impact they have on your life until you tell them. And so not only are you encouraging yourself when you write a letter, but you're going to offer great encouragement to somebody else.

And you don't know where they are in their life. And maybe it's just going to be really timely for them to get that encouragement, okay? So it's really twofold.

It's for you, and you're giving an amazing gift to somebody else.

So I just think that our challenge over this holiday season, between now and Christmas, is to take the time to write a heartfelt letter to somebody, letting them know how grateful you are for the impact that they had in your life.

That's a simple thing to do. It shouldn't cost you more than a stamp. You may be able to hand deliver it, if it's somebody that's still involved in your life.

It's not hard, it just takes time, all right?

So over the course of the next couple weeks, maybe if you have time off over the Thanksgiving break, in season, you can just take time and write a letter that's truly heartfelt to a couple people who've had an impact in your life.

And just remind yourself, good people are out there. Good people do exist. I am so grateful that this person gave me the encouragement I needed at that time and let them know that.

And then you're spreading joy to them, because even if there's somebody you interact with on a regular basis, sometimes we don't truly know what people are going through. Sometimes they don't share everything they're struggling with.

And so you just don't know how important that encouragement could be to them. And you might just deliver it at the exact time that they need it. So this season, we're going to write thank you notes just to a couple people.

It doesn't have to be a ton, just a few. We're going to write thank you because they're going to be heartfelt. We're not going to be generic.

We're not just going to spit out 20. We're going to write real heartfelt letters to just a few people in our life that we're grateful for. So that's the first thing.

But the second thing is, I want you to write one more thank you note, and I want you to write it to a very specific person, and that person is you. I want you to write a thank you note to yourself. And that's going to feel a little weird, I know.

I want you to write a thank you note to you. What are you grateful for that you have done? Are you grateful for a decision you made?

Are you grateful that you had the courage to leave a really bad situation and it was scary but you did it? Are you grateful you stayed even when everybody else had to leave? I mean, it could be the opposite things for different people, okay?

What are you grateful for? Are you grateful that you finally took control of your finances? Everything was spiraling and you were in debt and you may not be out of the woods yet, but you're so grateful you've finally taken control.

You're holding the reins now, you've got a plan. Are you grateful you're taking control of your health and you're starting to eat better and you're starting to exercise? Are you grateful that you're making your health a priority?

Are you grateful that you made good decisions that nobody knew about? How many decisions have you made that nobody knew about, but you knew what you did and it was the right thing, and you were grateful that you did that?

I want you to write a thank you letter to you. When we're going through a dark night of the soul, it's really lonely. And when it's really lonely, we oftentimes don't have someone else to encourage us.

This is a way to encourage yourself. Remind yourself of what you've done right. Thank yourself for making the right choice, the right decision, doing the things to take care of you.

Everybody else may not see it. Everybody may not understand it, but you know in your heart of hearts you're proud of yourself for certain things.

And I want you to take the time to write yourself a thank you note, to remind yourself, I have made good decisions, I have done the right thing. Thank you, me, for doing that. And everybody's will be different.

Like I said, one person may say, I am so grateful I had the courage to leave because leaving was the scariest thing I ever did. And another person may say, I am so grateful I stayed the course, and I kept on keeping on, and I didn't leave.

And both are okay. Each situation is different. They're not the same.

What are you grateful for that you have done? What have you done that you're proud of, that you're like, thank you for that. Thank you for taking care of me.

Thank you for being gentle with me when I was sad. Thank you for making sure I kept going when I just wanted to stop. What are you grateful to yourself for?

And that's a different perspective, that you have to put on a different lens. You have to look at it from a different point of view. And I'm encouraging you to do that.

It's a great mental health practice. You're thanking other people for what they've done in your life. Now take the time to write a thank you note to yourself.

Think yourself. You've been there with you the entire time, right? You know everything inside and out.

You know how your mind works. You know the situation. Think yourself for being there for you.

Thank yourself for the choices you made. Remind yourself of the good things you've done. Remind yourself of the things you're proud of.

Go all the way back. I mean, look over your life a little bit. I mean, there were decisions I made when I was 16 years old and faced with a really difficult decision, a difficult circumstances, a difficult situation.

And the decisions I made back then really affected the entire trajectory of my life, and I'm grateful for that. So I would even go back that far and be like, thank you for making these choices. Thank you for choosing.

Because sometimes we're in certain situations, and it could go either way, right? But you've made the right decision more than once. I know you have, okay?

And yeah, there are many times we made the wrong decision. There are times I made the wrong decision, but there are times I made the right decision. And I know there are times you made the right decision too.

And remember those times. Remember the times that you can tell yourself, thank you. I'm so glad you did that.

That mattered. That was good. And write yourself a thank you note.

This is the season of Thanksgiving, and I want us to celebrate being thankful. I want us to celebrate gratitude with others and with ourself. I think taking the time to tell other people thank you spreads gratitude, okay?

It spreads joy, because I received a letter like that that I didn't expect, and I know the impact that had on my life. I've written letters like that, and I know just writing a letter like that, the impact it had on me writing it.

This is something that is gonna lift your spirits this holiday season. If money is tight, your finances are just struggling, and this is a way to spread joy and goodwill to yourself and others. It doesn't really cost anything.

This is something that you can do this holiday, that'll make yourself feel better and other people feel better. So that's the challenge. We're gonna write thank you notes.

Please let me know who you're writing your note to. I would also love to know some of the highlights of the note you wrote to yourself. I would really like to know what you're proud of, what you've done that you're proud of, that you're thankful for.

So you can find me on the world wide web, www.workingonamazing.com. You can find me on social media. I'm on most all the platforms, but I do tend to hang out on Facebook the most, just Working on Amazing.

You'll be able to find me. Look me up. Tell me what, who you are thankful for.

What in your life that you're thankful that you did. I would love to hear from you. I hope that you have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving and holiday season.

Thank you for joining me today. I look forward to talking to you next time. Bye.