The Revival of the ‘Thank You’ Card

Last weekend my little family was hanging out in our backyard when a neighbor we'd never met yelled 'hello' from over the fence. She'd received some diaper samples in the mail and asked if we'd like them for our son because her kids are out of diapers.

I thought our neighbor was incredibly kind to offer the diapers to us, strangers, instead of tossing them in the trash and so we made a homemade thank you note for her. I suppose it's because I was raised to always, always send a thank you note when someone does something kind, no matter how big or how small.

And so I ask, when was the last time you wrote a thank you card? Sadly, most people have stopped writing them all together. If this is you and you're not actively taking time to write a note of thanks, you might want to consider starting. According to a new study, writing a thank you card doesn’t just make the person receiving it feel good, it makes you feel good too.

According to Women's Day, the Kent State University study found that people who wrote three thank-you notes within three weeks had greater life satisfaction and feelings of happiness and fewer symptoms of depression.

People wrote thank you notes to everyone from parents who'd passed away to people in their lives they had problems with and every single person who took the time to write a note of gratitude experienced good feelings afterward.

[via Women's Day]