I hear many people say that letters are something of the past – something my grandparents were using to share their love in times of war. We are so fed with the thought that technology today is the new sole way of communication between people or a community.

Well, you will then be surprised that I’m 24 and I still use letters to write and communicate with my family, some friends, and my lover. In a way, I feel like the world has gone back to my grandparents’ time. People used to leave their families, leave their partners to find a job in a faraway country.

Well, now it’s same. Most people from my generation have to leave their family to study or find a job abroad. We find a partner coming from the other side of the world. And in such a distance online messages do not really convey how much you care for that person. And they are definitely not something you can keep in a memory box.

I have one with so, so many letters! My mum sending me money abroad with a little message. My friend sending me a letter to apologise and express how much she values our friendship after a big fight. My partner sending me a letter for Valentine’s day.

You see, letters are not a mean of the past. They are the present. They are the best way to express your emotions and convey your feelings to the reader. They are a true human mean of communication.

The look of the card, the smell of the paper, the handwriting style, the thumbprints on the envelope. These are “parts” of the sender that will stay with the receiver forever and make the relationship special. We don’t write letters only for the message itself, but for all the human factors and senses that it involves. The creation of a correspondence of amorous senses.

When was the last time you wrote a personal letter to a beloved one?

POSTCROSSING

I have been living in the UK since 2013, and in my life I have been fortunate enough to have visited many countries in 4 different continents (still need to get more travelling under my belt and increase that to all continents!). And one thing that I’ve always done, when I am visiting a new country, is send back home to my family and/or friends, a written postcard.

I’ve always felt it’s a nice gesture, that you are remembering and taking the time from your adventures/holidays to write to the ones you love. And I know how great it feels to receive one in the post too! So, I want to share the same smile and heart warmth as much as possible.

Back in 2016, my sister in law introduced me to postcrossing. Now you may already know what this is, but in case you don’t, here it goes: Postcrossing is a worldwide community of people that share postcards! It’s so simple and yet, so effective!

You create your account online, at https://www.postcrossing.com/ and request your first address. Once you do, you’ll get to see the bio and “requests”/likes of your first recipient, and from there, it’s handwritten love and sharing!

Since 2016 I have sent postcards to all over the world and received them too. On the latest ones I’ve written you could find in the post box of a 74yo man from Germany, a 55yo woman from rural Russia, a 20yo girl from Japan and so many others in between London and there!

It’s always nice to read about their favourite postcards, what they’d like to add to their collection and check the nice messages left upon receiving a thoughtful 10.5cm x 10.5cm piece of card. And I also love selecting the perfect card for each individual. It makes me smile and discover super cool postcards!

If you’re not registered yet, I highly recommend doing it. You can send one postcard a year, if that’s your style, or you can get in a groove and write a handful a week, and see as many arriving with your post and imagining the life of the person who lives in a faraway country that took the time to write to YOU.

I am hooked on writing these and would love to know if there are any postcrossers amongst our lovely Scribe Tribe!

BOOKCROSSING

If you live in London or a city with an underground transport system, you may have come across one of these random acts of kindness on the Tube, or at a park. A stranger leaves a loved booked purposely behind, so another can pick it up and be immersed in the world created between those 2 covers. But did you know this is a community and not counting the actual leaving-the-book-for-a-stranger-to-pick-up part you can also exchange books, or send a book to another person directly?

You can see a book’s journey, if it’s one of the tracked items. You can swap books with people who have similar reading taste. You can send your favourite book to many people.

And all you need to do is log in to https://www.bookcrossing.com/ to find out more.

OLD FASHIONED HANDWRITTEN LETTER

If none of these seems appropriate to you, but you still want to bring a smile to someone’s face, I’d suggest the old-fashioned handwritten letter to a family member! Yes, you may talk to them on the phone every day, FaceTime/Zoom as much as you can, but imagine how loved they will feel by receiving a letter in the post! I know my boyfriend has received a letter from his sister and kept it safe in the back of his Kobo (a kind of kindle). Now I have not read the letter, nor want to, but the fact he has kept it safe and not thrown it away after reading shows how much he appreciated the gesture! And they do speak every single day on the phone.

Or, if you’re feeling a bit bolder, write to a neighbour of yours, or a local coffee place just sharing a nice moment/memory you have with them. I bet you’d make a friend for life.

Let me know if you get this posted and the reaction!

In the next weeks, I will share more ways you can use your gift of beautiful handwriting and love of words to spread joy, but in the meantime, let me know if you try any of these 3!

Tag: handwritten letter

Letters are the present, not the past

Letters represent the present, not the past

Connecting the world with writing

Connecting the world with writing

POSTCROSSING

BOOKCROSSING

OLD FASHIONED HANDWRITTEN LETTER