— Valeria interviews Amy Draper the author of “Love Letter” Gratitude Journals Series and also the “Not Now, I’m Gratituding: The 1 minute-a-day gratitude journal for people who want more peace, balance and positivity in their lives.
Amy Draper designed the “Love Letter” gratitude journals series to help us delve more deeply into our heart, mind, soul and body and discover ways for us to be grateful for all we are. They’re each filled with helpful prompts, inspirational quotes, and even a few coloring pages for those days when words are too much.
Ever said to yourself, “I really wish I could find a gratitude journal that I could stick to?” Me too. That’s why Amy Draper designed her journals. She was having trouble sticking to a daily gratitude practice, mostly because I struggled to come up with a list of things she was grateful for each morning.
Amy is not a morning person. At all. If you want her to list what I’m grateful for first thing in the morning, 95% of the time, it will be (1) coffee and (2) her bed.
She became so frustrated with her practice that she stopped doing it. Why bother if all she ever list are these two things with a few extras thrown in to round it out? Plus, her journal included a nightly “wrap-up” section that she forgot to do about 75% of the time.
So, yeah, Amy’s gratitude practice was suffering.
One morning, she realized that if this wasn’t working for her, then she needed to find something that would, because a consistent gratitude practice is really beneficial for her mental health. When she stopped filling out her journal, she could see an actual difference in how she was feeling. And it wasn’t good.
The problem was Amy couldn’t find a journal that worked. Most gratitude journals out there follow this same formula. List the things you’re grateful for today, then recap how your day went. That works for many people. Just not her.
So she designed a journal that did work for her. And she put it out in the world, believing that if it worked for her, maybe it would work for others, too. It became the Love Letters to Myself journal. Amy followed that up with two others that rounded out her gratitude practice, Love Letters to My Younger Self, and Love Letters to My Body. Together, these three journals form the base of her self-care routine. It’s hard to feel grateful for what’s around you when you don’t feel grateful for who you are. These journals help Amy get to that place.
A few weeks later, she got the idea to design the Not Now, I’m Gratituding journal. This journal follows the more typical gratitude journal format, because you list things you’re grateful for each day. However, instead of having nightly recaps, Amy designed the journal with a weekly format. At the beginning of each week you set your intention, what you want to focus on for that week. At the end of each week, you give yourself credit for what you accomplished (big or small). In between, you find something to be grateful for each day. A gratitude journal that takes the pressure off to be “on” every day!
Amy Draper spent 17 years as a corporate attorney, handling SEC filings and corporate transactions, among other matters. However, a few years ago, she caught the writing bug when the legal world had left her feeling jaded, unfulfilled and stressed out. Amy recently traded in her business suits for comfy sweats and now spends her days practicing self-care and writing happily ever afters in between feeding her addiction to journals by designing and selling them. (All this in between paying copious amounts of attention to her various rescue animals, of course!)
