We’ve all heard about the power of gratitude and appreciation, and the practice of appreciation is something that I do every day. Somedays I write out my appreciations, but in the past year, it’s gotten to be so engrained that I find myself in appreciation even as I walk and talk and do the dishes and pet the cat and collect the mail.

But about three years ago, I did something that was quite a lot of fun. I decided to deliberately send out my thank yous to people who inspired me, but whom I did not know.

That month, I wrote letters to authors, many of whom wrote back to me. I wrote emails to website owners, many of whom responded. Often the letters and emails were short, but that didn’t matter. The replies didn’t really matter at all. It was my act of writing the original letter or email in the first place that was the important thing.

In the beginning, it was a challenge. It’s hard to write to someone you don’t know. All these thoughts come into your head. What will they think of me? Am I writing a FAN letter, of all things? Aren’t I a little too old for this kind of thing?

But after a while, it became easier and easier. I didn’t feel quite so foolish telling someone I didn’t know that I loved this particular passage from their book. Or that their website made me smile, and helped bring me back to a good mood.

When the 30 days were up, I decided to keep doing it. But after a while, other things came to the forefront, and gradually I drifted out of the practice.

Writing this has reminded me of how good it felt to write letters and emails of appreciation. And how nice it was to hear back from people, to make those connections that would otherwise never have been made if it weren’t for that letter or that email.

I think it might be time for me to do another 30 days of Saying Thank You.