Why You Should Tell People When They Inspire You
Your words have the power to change someone’s outlook for the better.
The other day, a Facebook friend dropped by to write on my wall. She was someone I used to know better many years ago, way back when LiveJournal was a thing. However, as often happens with long-distance friendships, we’d fallen out of the habit of interacting very much save for a stray comment here or there.
That’s exactly why I was so surprised to find this really heartfelt message waiting for me. She’d been keeping track of my language-learning progress on Duolingo and wanted to tell me that she and her partner had been feeling motivated to pursue the same kind of progress because of me. She went on to say I’d inspired her a lot over the years in different ways and that she has always appreciated my friendship.
Now, I had been having an absolutely horrible morning— one of those days that honestly leaves you wondering what the point is of anything. But that message put me in a fantastic mood and turned my whole day around. I had no idea this particular person even thought about me anymore, so saying this was a pleasant surprise is a real understatement. It was like she knew in her bones that I needed to hear something like that right that minute.
