I have officially done it again. I’ve waited really long to send thank you notes to the guests of our last birthday party. I typically do them later than I’d prefer, but – I think that 2 months is probably too long. They will get done this weekend.
The problem is that I really like to write thank you notes. I enjoy telling people what it was about their thoughtful gift that was appreciated. I love stationary – real stationary like this one from Paperluxe, and I can even picture myself sitting at my desk and writing a note that looks fabulous on paper and stuffing it into an equally beautiful envelope (with a liner), addressing it in elegant handwriting and putting one of those personalized stamps on it. When I’m really using my imagination I can even see myself putting a faux wax imprint over the seal.
You see, I give it a lot of thought. I have two downfalls. The first is that my hand writing is awful. I blame it on not having attended Catholic school or maybe growing up in a generation where computers were used to do my writing. Whatever it is – it’s awful. Secondly, with 2 kids, a full time job, a side business, a spouse and an extended family – I just don’t have time to pull all of the details together to make the cards what I want them to be.
I call it failure of perfectionism. For me if one of my elements is off – it ruins the whole project. So if I don’t have the right stamps or the right cards or envelopes, etc. I don’t like to start – because I know I’m not going to like the end product.
This year – I’m making a Resolution to do better. I’m going to cut myself some slack and not stress when one piece of the puzzle doesn’t fit just perfectly. This year – this decade – I’m going to get my thank you notes out on time!
What about you? Any resolutions to share?
Andrea is a new contributor at Chester County Moms. She lives in Berwyn with her husband and two daughters. Andrea works in Human Resources and is learning how to balance work, family and entrepreneurship. You can see what Andrea’s up to at http://parentise.com where she is working on creating a database of information built from the expertise of parents like you.
Philaburban Mom 