I have been writing a lot lately about choosing health and how that means a lot more than simply eating a good diet and exercising. One of my goals for 2019 is to write a gratitude journal as a means to choose mental health! Expressing gratitude is a wonderful way to bring inner peace, to get outside of negative thinking and to simply focus on the good. It is too easy to get sucked into “Stinking Thinking“, negative energy, bad vibes and the horrors of the daily news.
Today, I want to share a gratitude letter that I wrote at the end of 2018 to a former boss and mentor. I mailed this letter to her and she called me within a few days of receiving it. We had a great chat, caught up on life and shared more than a few laughs. Maybe reading this letter will encourage you to share your gratitude with a special person in your life!
Dear Vera:
I have been thinking a lot about you lately and thought I would take the opportunity to say hello and to check in. Working together at WSC seems like a lifetime ago and even though we have not been good about keeping in touch, I still consider you my friend and mentor. Over the last few years, I have spent a lot of time thinking about and making positive changes in my life and documenting that journey at My Little Blue Kayak. One of my goals for 2018 that I blogged about was to complete a 7 Days/7Gives which you can read about here! Basically, this is a way to do something positive for someone every day for 7 days. So today, I thought I would share my gratitude for you, my mentor and my friend.
Vera, we met when I was 22 years old. I was a shy, quiet country girl from Upstate, NY with a good heart and a good work ethic but little self-confidence and no leadership experience. You were a mature woman who presented herself with such confidence and grace. When we first met, I knew I had much to learn from you as it related to supervising and leading others. I think you had eyes in the back of your head as you walked through the day programs as you never seemed to miss a thing. When you promoted me to Program Coordinator, you expressed your confidence in me and that helped me to develop confidence in myself.
You taught me that it was ok to be assertive, even with you! I remember telling you once that you weren’t allowed to give me a list of items to address with my staff that you observed simply walking through the room without acknowledging the good along with the bad. I also remember telling you that it would be good to give staff positive feedback as a way to build relationships with them. To your credit, you took my advice and I am sure several staff have kept the kind hand-written notes you gave to them as I have kept the ones you wrote to me.
I learned how to lead and supervise from you and you taught me well! I have confidence in my abilities to develop and run programs, supervise staff, lead meetings and provide feedback to others from watching you. You were always patient, never short-tempered and seemed to have an unending supply of chocolate that you willingly shared.
Remember how you used to spread out your work all over your office, the office across the hall and occasionally the conference room? OK, I never copied that behavior! Do you still drive around with boxes of work in your car?
One of my favorite Vera memories is when you hosted a work gathering at the beach house and met me at the door with a 6 pack of beer. You used to call Peg and I along with a few others the “23 club” as we were all around that age!
I consider myself lucky that I no longer supervise other people, but when I did, I used the lessons you taught me in “BIT” class about positive and intermittent reinforcement. I also copied your evaluation strategy regarding giving the good feedback first, then the less good feedback followed by an action plan. I learned from you how to run a meeting, take good notes and assign due dates to all tasks.
I wanted to thank you for all you have taught me over the years. I wanted to let you know that I will always be grateful for your taking an interest in me and my career. Thank you for being my mentor, my friend, and for giving such great letters of recommendations! When someone asked if you would hire me back, you responded you would hire me to be President! That is high praise!
Vera, I hope you are happy and healthy. You have an open invitation to visit me anytime that works for you. I will likely be visiting Massachusetts in March for an OT conference and hope that we can find time to get together to share some memories and some laughs.
Love and miss you!
Gratitude should be contagious – not quarantined! Pick up the phone, write a letter, tell someone you love them. You won’t regret it! Life is short and health matters! Let me know in the comment section what you will do to spread gratitude this week! Let’s share gratitude instead of attitude!
Lake Girl
