The Best Gift Ever for my Farmer

One of the best gifts I ever gave my Farmer was my journal. It wasn’t just any journal though. It was a heartfelt, positive, appreciative journal that I wrote for him. Let me explain from the beginning.

It was potato harvest and things were stressful. My Farmer was not a very happy camper to say the least. If you have ever experienced a harvest, you know what I mean. If you haven’t, well, all I can say is……it’s an experience that everyone should have, just so you know the feeling of saying “I am sooo glad that’s done!” Anyways, back to my story.

My Farmer was not happy and honestly neither was I. I was reading a book at the time by Darren Hardy called “The Compound Effect”.

I highly recommend it. There was a part in the book where he tells about making a positive journal. Every day for a year he wrote down one nice thing that he liked about his wife. Something he appreciated about her. Examples…..he loved the way she spoke to a stranger or he liked how she looked that day. Simple yet positive. One sentence each day. He said it was amazing how it made him feel toward his wife and how grateful she was when he gave her the journal to read. I thought it sounded like a great exercise (I’m always up for self-improvement) so I decided to go for it. I bought one of those small pocket notebooks and had it by my bed. Every night I wrote one positive thing about my Farmer. I will tell you some days it was HARD!! Some nights it took a long time to get past the negative and find a positive thing to write down. For those that have been through a potato harvest, or any harvest for that matter, you know what I’m saying. It’s not really a mean thing, it’s just that harvest can be such a stressful time and emotions are usually running really high. I told the girls on the crew what I was doing and they were an amazing support system. They helped point out good things about my Farmer. (Which honestly is not normally that hard to do because he really is a great guy…….for the most part 😊. I’m being sarcastic here). What I came to realize, is that the further into writing in the journal I went, the more I came to appreciate my Farmer. It was eye opening, and I suppose heart opening too.

I’d only been doing this for about 3 months, but decided to give him the journal as a Christmas gift. This was really scary. I wasn’t sure how he would react. After all, he’s not really one of those touchy feely kind of guys and it really wasn’t much, just a small book with about 5 words on each page. I wrapped it up in a little box and waited in anticipation for his reaction. His reaction was not what I expected. I think he may have almost had a tear. He said it was the best gift he had ever received. As Dr. Seuss’ Grinch would say, both our hearts grew that day. It was completely worth it.

I highly recommend this exercise to anyone. It’s a low cost, little effort (well most days,) high rewards kind of gift. You can do it for a year or just a few months. You could even start now and give it for Valentine’s Day! You can do it for a spouse, a parent, a child, or even a friend. Anyone that you would like to mend or improve your relationship with. Or it’s just a great way to tell someone that you really love them and appreciate them. I will warn you once again, some days it can be challenging, but overall, the outcome is amazing and completely worth it. Come to think about it, that one act may be one reason that I feel like I’m Livin’ the Life. It made me grateful for my life, my Farmer, and my Farm Life.

I would love to hear your comments about this exercise. Have you done this before? Something like it? If you do decide to do this, please come back later and share your experience. I would love that.

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