There are many ways to get to a girl’s heart and let’s face it, we are all suckers for either love or a solid friendship. You can buy us a bouquet of fresh sunflowers, treat us to that Frosty we have been craving or sit down and have a heart to heart with us over a Starbucks latte. While all of those sound like a dream, there is one act in particular that has been overlooked time and time again. It’s simple, easy, cheap and most importantly, heartfelt. That’s right I’m talking about handwritten letters.
Yes, those pieces of paper that you get from your grandma once a year for your birthday. Handwritten letters have a way of connecting us with other people in ways that we can’t necessarily achieve from a screen. We read countless words a day in textbooks, tweets and Instagram captions, but we rarely ever see pen-to-paper words.
I recently went through a hard break-up and I found myself becoming distant with my friends and family. I felt inadequate and simply rejected (ouch!). One of my closest friends handed me an envelope at school and told me to open it when I was alone. Once I was home, I opened it and quickly found myself in tears. The uplifting words and support from that scribbled letter were just what I needed. I still have the letter and read it from time to time when I need a confidence boost.
All you have to do is go to Target, buy a $3.99 pack of blank, floral-patterned letters, turn on Hozier, and go to town. I have come to find that as you start to write the letters, you really get time to pause and recognize the person for who they are and what they have done for your life. In our hectic day-to-day activities, we rarely get time to do that. Handwritten letters aren’t meant for a one sentence line and they can be anything you make them out to be depending on who they are addressed to. They may not all be about a deep, heartfelt topic, but what matters most is showing the person that you were simply thinking of them and made the effort to make that known.
So, what are you waiting for? Pick up your favorite blue pen, write away, slap on a stamp and send it.
Sincerely,
Hattie