Blog #147: The Importance of Thank You Notes

It may not seem like its important, but it is important. I didn’t think that growing up, but I’ve realized the importance of it and the impact that it makes on others around me.

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I am of course talking about the thank you notes. Yesterday, I had written 10 thank you notes to family who had sent me Xmas gifts and the hotels I stayed at over the past year for my self-advocacy and public speaking travels.

I was taught to write thank you notes as a sort of etiquette to thank someone who gave me a present for Christmas or Birthday although I initially thought of thank you notes as a waste of time as I had better things to do.

But it wasn’t until I was 18 years old after my high school graduation did I understand how important they are. I wrote 100 thank you notes to my family, friends and teachers that attended my graduation party and let me tell you that it was a lot of work, but very valuable work in the end.

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Thank You notes are among those notes that may seem inferior to you, but important to others. I say that because there are those you know, like family or friends, that never get thank you notes to show how appreciated they are in their everyday lives.

Take my paternal grandmother, Shirley Snyder, for example. Now “Gram” as I called her, always looked forward to getting thank you notes from me. While most people would just throw their thank you notes away, Gram would always save them and would build up quite a collection.

In fact, Gram loved them so much that they were all placed in her casket after her death and buried with her. To know that thank you notes you had written to someone and were buried with them signifies how big of an impact you made on them.

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Now, when it comes to writing Thank You notes, its always a good idea to write the notes right after you receive a gift from someone that you know. For example, if I get gifts on December 25th or before during the holidays, I always get my thank you notes out December 26th or 27th.

You don’t want to procrastinate for too long because you will then forget about writing a thank you note. Thank you notes take about 5 minutes each to write and if you write 10 thank you notes a day, it takes about 60 minutes to do. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, but what you write in that thank you note can leave a lasting impact, so choose your words carefully.

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In conclusion, thank you notes are that one type of communication that is very hard to come by especially in today’s society. Some of us who are neurodiverse will always not think of “thank you notes” as important when they really are important. It’s as I said before that “thank you notes” leave a lasting impact on someone.

Who knows?

Maybe the loved one you write “thank you notes” to end up having their collection buried with them when they pass on. It worked for my paternal grandmother; it can work for someone that you know. But it’s up to you to decide whether or not to write that “thank you note,” because you can either be polite to someone in written words on a small card or be rude by not writing words in a small card.

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Catch you all later!!

#Autism #Inclusion #Neurodiversity