The Unexpected Marketing Advice That Saved My Mental Health
Setting: The week of Thanksgiving 2020. Covid is still a very real threat, but one people seem to be taking less and less seriously as the days march on. I was at a low point, mental-health-wise. Probably a lot of us were in 2020. And I would have described myself as a cynical person by nature—particularly disheartened by the changing climate (both environmental and political) and all the issues surrounding and contributing to it. I was infuriated to learn things like: most of our recycling isn’t actually recycled; that a significant portion of greenhouse-gas-producing groceries are left to rot in dumpsters; and that our tax dollars are funneled to giant corn-soy-and-wheat agribusinesses depleting the topsoil across the Midwest to produce food that’s ultimately killing us. The efforts to correct these problems felt laughably small compared to the enormity of them.
Nothing I could personally do felt like enough.
So that’s our starting point. Late-2020. Covid. Sad, cynical, and disheartened.
At the time, I was working at a local floral wholesale house where my daily tasks allowed for lots and lots of listening time. Food and Blooms Farm had barely been born, so I was immersed in farming and business podcasts every day. I stumbled on a show called The Profitable Mindset Podcast that felt like it was targeting me with precision accuracy… in a good way, ha! It’s a podcast for small-scale farmers selling direct-to-consumer, with a psychology twist. Totally my jam. In the first episode I listened to—the Thanksgiving-themed one—the host said that a daily appreciation practice was vital to success in marketing. It was not the marketing hack I was expecting, but it absolutely spoke to me.
The advice: Write down 10 things a day beginning with the words “I appreciate…”
That’s it. It felt so attainable. I resolved to do it. I got a small notebook specifically for this appreciation practice, and I started.
The first entries were what you might call the greatest hits: “I appreciate my husband.” “I appreciate my son.” “I appreciate my parents.” “I appreciate my home.” “I appreciate my friends.” The easiest things to cultivate a feeling of appreciation for. Even though I already had a deep appreciation for these things, I noticed that pausing for a moment to intentionally feel gratitude for them literally loosened the tightness in my chest. It became immediately apparent that this was a habit with real, tangible benefits.
Then, over time, as the list grew and I stretched to see what else—beyond the obvious—I could appreciate, something truly profound happened. I started intentionally appreciating things that would normally drive me nuts and fill me with a sense of “what’s wrong with the world.”
Instead of stewing in frustration about food waste, landfills, and my unhealthy diet, I wrote things like:
“I appreciate the wide variety of food I have access to.”
“I appreciate these disposable baby wipes.”
“I appreciate this frozen pizza.”
Instead of thinking “I’m so sick of being sick,” I wrote, “I appreciate that it’s harder to be appreciative when you’re not feeling well,” and “I appreciate the effort it takes to get up and go to work.”
I wrote things like “I appreciate how hard it is to make decisions” and “I appreciate the lessons I’m learning from the mistakes I make,” which have a wonderful tendency to counteract the self-deprecating narrative playing on repeat in the back of my mind.
I even have an entry that says, “I appreciate that getting pulled over resulted in my husband and I going for a walk together.” Ha! I don’t even remember that situation, but I’m sure it came with plenty of cause for frustration. I appreciate that we’ve gotten better about registering and inspecting our vehicles. ;)
There are lots of easy-to-feel-good-about things in those notebooks, and more descriptive versions of the greatest hits like “I appreciate how much my husband and baby make me smile on a daily basis” and “I appreciate all the love and support my family gives me.” But as I simply put the words “I appreciate” in front of harder-to-feel-good-about circumstances, everything shifted. It totally reframed how I felt about them. It was like an antidote to my natural cynicism.
Now I have four notebooks filled with things I appreciate, and my practice has become less regimented and more integrated into my daily life. But I truly believe the three years of physically writing the words “I appreciate,” followed by all manner of things, actually retrained my brain to see what I appreciate—what’s good, what’s working—in addition to… let’s just say, what could stand to be improved, ha! And seeing what’s good and what’s working allows me to look at what needs improvement with a lighter heart—one that enables me to take small steps toward those improvements.
Because of this daily practice, it’s so much easier to feel appreciation and hope over cynicism and despair.
Has it made marketing easier? You bet, ha! If ever there were something to be cynical about, it’s marketing, am I right?
But I appreciate having a reason to communicate with the wider world about the experiences I’m having, the things I’m learning, and the company I’m creating. I appreciate having photos and blog posts to look back on and see how my business has grown. And I appreciate when other small business owners share what they’re doing and what they have to offer—it reminds me to patronize them, which I want to do. I appreciate that social media allows people in our community to connect in ways they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.
This journey has completely changed my outlook on marketing—both as a customer and as a marketer.
I appreciate the vulnerability it takes to share what you create with strangers, acquaintances, and even close friends and family. I appreciate the time, work, and courage it takes to get all that out into the world—to get it to “market.” I appreciate the opportunities it gives me to grow and to contribute some small solutions.
And I appreciate you reading this, whoever you may be. ;)
Cheers.
