The Little-Known Way of Communication

Imagine living during the pre-electricity era. Suddenly, the ability to talk on the phone, text, or email vanishes. How are you going to communicate without the quick responses that exist with today’s technology?

The answer is writing a letter and waiting, yes waiting, patiently for a response. Although it may seem ancient, people still write letters, including myself. Today’s culture promotes quick and easy tasks for everything. Communicating by way of letter writing will not promote quick but it is easy and will teach you to have patience.

There are many reasons why you should embark on the journey of writing a letter, but my favorite reason is to unplug from the busy technology life.

Unplugging: Time for a Small Detox

A typical day of using screens may look something like this:

• The alarm on your phone rings to wake you up.
• At school or work, assignments are completed on a computer.
• You text your friend of family member.
• In the evening, you look up a recipe on your phone or order food from a restaurant.  

Look closely at the third bullet point: texting. This is one of the most common ways to use a phone. In fact, it is not often that we go a whole day without it. A good way to unplug for a short amount of time is to write a letter. Instead of sending that text, I encourage you to write a letter. It could be as simple as a short note or as long as a five-page letter. The sky is the limit so feel free to choose your length and style!

A handful of letters from my pen pal of nine years.
We started out with short notes on cards and
eventually began writing long letters. 

Of course, writing a letter will take longer than sending a text, but the appreciation will be greater and more meaningful. There are no suggestions for words or a voice option so the letter will be truly written from your heart. The recipient will read the words that were written from your ink pen and be grateful you took the time to write just for them. 

When the mailbox is opened, and a handwritten letter is found, that person will truly appreciate you and may take the time to write back.

Letters in cursive are my favorite!
(and yes, it's supposed to be blurry)

“To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart”. -Phyllis Theroux

Comment below with your favorite type of communication: electronically or handwritten? If you've never written a letter, I will be giving you some more inspiration next week, with my very own pen pal story. 

-Miss K