One year ago yesterday, I started Car Window Poetry.

As I sat in my living room last August and began imagining an idea for a new creative side project, all I knew is that I wanted to give local writers in Colorado Springs a way to share their words and encourage the people around them. I had no idea it would soon live outside of my community.

Now, with over 3,000 Car Window Poetry card downloads and 15,000 poems shared worldwide, here I am reflecting on the three biggest lessons I’ve learned during year 1:

1. Small acts of love make the biggest difference.

It’s nice to put a smile on someone’s face or brighten their day, but I really started Car Window Poetry with a belief that, if we shared enough words into the universe, eventually the poem someone received could be exactly what they needed to make it through.

As I began to doubt whether this was true or not, I received a powerful email from a woman named who had experienced just that.

You don’t have to say a lot in order for it to mean a lot. I used to think you had to love in big, extravagant ways in order for it to count, but now I know the smallest acts of love can make the biggest difference.

2. Connect with others because a smaller world is easier to change.

Through the process of starting Car Window Poetry, I’ve gotten to meet so many new people whose dreams are in the same vein as mine. I think it’s funny that, the bigger your dreams get, the smaller the world seems to get.

Because dreaming big isn’t normal.

I’m so grateful for the people I’ve gotten to connect with because not only have they helped spread the word about Car Window Poetry, but we’ve also gotten to collaborate in various ways and make the world more beautiful together.

My friends from Rauthenticity have a sticker that says, “Better Together,” and it’s one of those simple truths that has resonated with me recently. As we become more connected, the world becomes smaller. And as a result, an incredibly large world becomes easier to change.

3. It’s not about me.

On Car Window Poetry’s first-ever blog post, I wrote, “I hope you see yourself as the hero of this project, because you are. It’s your words that are going to give someone who’s hurting the courage to try again.”

Those words have never been truer than they are right now. No longer is Car Window Poetry just me. I say “we” when talking about Car Window Poetry because it has grown into a movement, a community of people who are entering into their communities and sharing words of hope and love.

While I stop to reflect on what has been an amazing first year leading Car Window Poetry, I recognize that this is just the beginning.

Words still matter.

People are still hurting.

We still have work to do.

With love,