"I Could Live for 2 Months on a Good Compliment" - Mark Twain

Taking the time to compliment someone - or thank them for doing something - doesn't take a lot of time or effort. So why is it that it's sometimes so hard to do?

I used to be really good at thank you notes. I would sit down immediately after my birthday and Christmas and get them written and sent out. Now, it takes me a month or more to get them written and in the mail and it's really unacceptable.

I decided last night that I'm going to start thanking people more - for little things, for big things, for just being who they are. Telling someone that I appreciate them needs to be something I do more often. I think that I often get so bogged down in the day to day minutiae that I often don't take the time to tell people thank you for things that they do to get me through my day, or for just being someone in my life who I really appreciate.

I've also decided that it's important to compliment people more. More often than not, throughout my day I see people doing things that really deserve a compliment - an "I'm really proud of you for doing ___" goes a long way. Or a "that top looks really great on you" can do a lot for people and it's not a hard thing to do.

In the last couple of weeks I've received several thank yous and some really great compliments that have made my day. Things that I can use when I'm having a bad day.

I was recently asked to be a representative of Political Science and Public Administration majors for a website and brochure that UW-Green Bay is putting together for their current students. I was to submit information about my job and what I find exciting about it and why my degrees helped me.

I of course was honored to do this - as my time at UWGB was so rewarding - both in and out of the classroom. I submitted the information and received the following email that was totally unexpected and so appreciated:

Good morning, Jennifer,
Thank you so much!! Even though we never met (I just started my work here 2 years ago), I know the department is extremely proud of you and we are all so happy to see our alumni do so well. Your statement is very much appreciated. I will send you a copy of the brochure and a link to the website once we finish putting together both.

Thank You!

Katia

Katia Levintova
Assistant Professor
Public and Environmental Affairs (Political Science)

This professor, who doesn't know who I am, totally made my day - or, as Mark Twain would say, a whole 2 months for me.

It was followed up by a thank you here from one of my dearest college friends - whom I miss having in my life on a routine basis so much. I know he's around if I need him and I know he checks in with me here pretty regularly (he's one of my dozens of loyal readers you know), but I haven't talked to him in awhile and I haven't seen him in a long time, so that note of thanks - and the others that he sends from time to time mean a lot to me. He knows who he is and I hope he knows how important he is - to this day - to me. His initial hatred of me that over time turned into such a wonderful friendship is still treasured - all of it - even the not so nice parts. (As I continue to write this paragraph I'm realizing that an entire entry - a really long one could be devoted to you Jacob...)

Furthermore - this morning as I was not so sure about my outfit choice as the dress I'm wearing is pretty fitted and I'm still self conscious about what I wear - a woman told me that I looked wonderful and followed it up with "but with your figure, you could make anything look good" - yeah, HI, this is ME - I've NEVER EVER been told THAT one. And as I caught myself from falling over, and contemplated that she was going to say "psych" at the end, I realized she meant it and it was the nicest thing ever. It gave me oodles of confidence to walk out of the Y and face my day.

SO - I'm living high - for at least 2 months on these great compliments and thank yous and I'm vowing to "pay it forward" and thank and compliment people in my life who do great things, or have something about them that make me smile, as well as thinking more of and saying thank you to old friends who have had such a great impact on my life that I could not be the person I am today without them.

So, THANK YOU for reading. Thank you for stepping into my crazy little world to share a bit of it with me. I appreciate you all for the comments that you leave - and for those that you don't - just seeing that my page has been visited another time is a fun feeling. Thank you for enjoying my journey with me.

(yes, as most of you know, I always go for cheesy - it's sincere I promise - but you know, very "Hallmarky" - it's how I roll...)