Take Fifteen Minutes and Make Someone Else’s Week
This weekend we’re going to focus on something much less visible than what we see in our homes. Instead we’re going to take a look inward and make the world a more beautiful place through a small act of communication. Grab your laptop or even reach for some old-fashioned pen and paper (and stamps!) and get ready to make someone’s day — and yours too. Here are a few ideas to get you going.
This Weekend’s Assignment: Reach out, reconnect, give thanks and appreciation to someone in your life who would love (and possibly be very surprised!) to hear from you.
- Write a note to your childhood best friend’s parents, telling them how much you enjoyed being in their home and being part of their honorary family. Tell them how much you appreciated their care for you and that even though you don’t keep in touch much, you think of them often. Include a picture of yourself or your family.
- Look up your high school English teacher, the one who pushed you beyond your limit, gave you crazy grammar lessons and tests, and made you memorize a line from every work of literature you read freshman year. You didn’t know how pivotal that class would be to your course in life and you wanted to thank her.
- Write a card to your in-laws, telling them the things you appreciate about their child and that you’re thankful for their role in making your spouse the person they are today.
- Find your elementary school classmate on Facebook, the one involved in that little incident that still haunts you and say you’re sorry (privately, of course).
- Write a card to your significant other in this format: a “Thank You” on the cover and the inside filled with a running list of what you’re thankful for (for example, “for making me coffee every morning, for taking the dog to the vet, for making me feel beautiful…”). Nothing is too big or too small, too monumental or too quotidian. Pour your heart out and show that you see and are grateful.
- Message your childhood dance teacher and tell her how much you now love to watch your own child dance.
Not only will it feel so amazing to get these feelings out on paper and sent to these influential people in your life, but it will be so uplifting to hear back from them, if you do. Get ready for some major warm fuzzies. Plus, it’s a great way to brush up on your writing and grammar skills.
Who will you reach out to?
Remember, as with all of our Weekend Projects, just do what you have the time and energy to do. This is a marathon, not a sprint!
- Help motivate others by letting the rest of us know how things are going! Share your tips and photos of your Weekend Project work on Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #ATweekendproject