I Wrote Dozens of Gratitude Notes for a Week and Here’s How It Went
Today, I’m diving into one of my #GiveItAWeek challenges that made me really happy (and hopefully made you happy too!). This one was all about gratitude, which science says is proven to help make us happier in our relationships and work. My goal was to write a new letter of appreciation to someone every day, but after getting so many DMs from you guys, I quickly discovered that I couldn’t pick just five. So I ended up writing DOZENS of gratitude notes. Here’s how it went:
(Oh, and for those of you who haven’t been following along with my #GiveItAWeek challenges, you can still catch-up here or over at @brit!).
Picking the recipients
I first asked my followers to DM me the best selfies of their happiest faces in order to pick a lucky few to send to. Suffice to say, I was blown away by all of the responses. The silly, happy faces made my day, and it was so much fun getting to know everyone by face and not just username. I decided to do something crazy. Instead of selecting my favorite five followers to send handwritten notes to, I’d send one to each and every one of them.
sending the letters
But as much as I wanted to create something uniquely special, I am a CEO and a mom of toddlers who travels nearly every week. I knew I’d never find the time. So I recruited Punkpost — a company founded by a former B+C’er named Alexis! — to help me do all of the handwriting and designs. You guys, this service is INCREDIBLE. You just download the app (or go onto the website), type in the address and a short message, then a real-life human artist will hand letter and illustrate the card for you AND ship it off to your recipient, all for $5.
the responses
The best part of all of this was the sheer happiness everyone had when receiving my notes. The love I received from was amazing — it proved the point that something as simple as a couple sentences could make an entire person’s day better. Seriously, I was overwhelmed with each of the sweet replies. Can I do this every week?!
MY TAKEAWAY
It’s so crazy to think how taking a few minutes to handwrite (not text or email) a note to someone can totally turn their day around. Of course, I was completely obsessed with Punkpost to help me with my letters (they employ artists for the job, which is pretty cool) and for holidays, thank yous and birthdays, I could definitely see how this would be a huge help!
That said, I do think I’ll be investing in some more cute, personalized stationery so I can keep going with this #GiveItAWeek challenge even after my week is up. Excuse me while I go on a buying spree on Etsy!
Psst: If you’re looking to fine-tune your own card writing skills, take a look at our awesome hand lettering or illustration classes.
How are you expressing your creativity right now? Share it with me on Instagram, @brit.