At 2am on January 20th, while I was tossing and turning instead of sleeping — and I’m usually a great sleeper — my brain and I hatched an idea: what if I hand wrote one letter a week to let someone know how grateful I am to have them in my life?

So many benefits:

• Gratitude practice
• Self fulfillment
• Acknowledgment

Good idea right? Knowing me as only I can, I knew I would need validation. Was this a dumb idea? Was it overly sentimental?
Enter Seann. Over drinks on a recent trip to LA, I mentioned the idea. He latched on. He liked it (a real “hey Mikey” moment for me). In his typical way, he got down to it: I want to do it too. When should we start? Every week? Starting on what day? Ok. We’ll text each other when we get one done each week to keep on track. No details required. Just incentive to keep it up.
That was a week ago Thursday. We said our first week would start that Sunday. Awesome. #letsdoit #startingsomethinghere.

But Wait There’s More …

I mulled. I posited. I made lists. On Wednesday, my friend texted me. He had posted his first letter. Still I drug my feet. I had a mental list of recipients. (It was gratifying to know it would not be hard to find 52.) But I didn’t start.
As the idea churned and turned, I realized I wanted to do a bit more. I wanted some record. But I couldn’t share the letters; they needed to be very honest and could be very personal. They were for recipient eyes only. Plus, I was yearning for a more creative component.

Brief aside about me. Many of my friends will likely tell you that this is a theme with me. I talk a lot about wanting a creative outlet, even though I’m not an artist. I really, really admire my friends that are artists, writers and musicians. I’ve talked for years about wanting to write. I am always seeking a creative outlet … writing, zentangles, coloring, drawing, cooking, crafts, graphic design, photobooks, dinner parties … The list goes on and on.

So, to try meet my oft-voiced desire for a creative outlet, I thought, why don’t I blog about it?! (That’s how I do these things. I taken a simple idea — write one note of gratitude each week for a year — and blow it up into something that has the potential to be difficult to keep up.) But, hey, I still want to try to do it, so here’s how this is going to work. I’ll handwrite my notes every week. I’ll text my friend when I post it. (Now the ambitious part). I’ll create something that relates to the note I’ve written for that week and share that creation here with a little note. And then there will be this awesome record of my gratitude practice. Love it!

Aside numero dos. I’m also known to go a tad overboard with my ideas. I have, on occasion, been known to take a simple concept and turn it into a monumental project. Actually, it’s not that occasional. That could be happening again. Maybe. Probably. Too bad. We’ll just have to see.

So here goes … Week no. 1. #52weeksofgratitude #honestlygrateful