A Gift In Writing

Not more than a few decades ago, communication wasn’t as quick and instant as it is now. People would write letters to their loved ones staying in different corners of the world. The exchange of letters back and forth, the excitement on seeing a new letter in the mailbox, the eagerness to open the envelope and read through the contents and immediately write back a reply in longhand, must have been indeed a heart-warming activity.

With time, the art of writing letters slowly lost its charm and made way to telephone calls, instant messaging and social media.

Do you remember those letters which we had to write as a part of our language examinations? A letter to a friend enquiring about their well-being, or a letter to the teacher explaining the reason for your absence in class, or the classic letter to parents from a hosteller. We have all written letters like these in our school days. (On a completely unrelated note, are you still in touch with that friend whom you addressed your letters to, in such examinations? I am!) But once we completed our schooling, we seldom got an opportunity to write letters.

I’m an old-school girl at heart. Letter writing is something that has fascinated me ever since I was a school-going kid. To this day, I love the whole process of writing a letter. Of course, with time I have evolved from writing letters in ink to writing them on my digital notebook. I absolutely love writing long letters. My best friends are generally greeted with (extremely) long letters on their birthdays. I type them up and send it across on messaging platforms.

Call me weird, but every year (ever since I started journalling seriously), I write a letter to myself. It may sound peculiar, but I find it simply relaxing and motivating to write these letters to myself and re-read them years down the line.

To me, letters mean way more than other materialistic gifts. It means that the person who has written them has invested his/her time to think, gather their thoughts and put it all down on paper. They are also such an inexpensive way of telling someone that they matter to you. Letters are a means of self-expression. You are putting your heart into them, what could be more endearing than that? And the best part, imagine the pleasant surprise the person feels seeing a letter addressed to him/her! You can make someone’s day, all with a few sentences.

The whole art of letter-writing is rejuvenating, to say the least. In a world full of slangs and short forms, actually putting an effort to write sentences longhand is way more expressive and therapeutic. It is very rewarding once you finish writing the letter.

Since we have all got some time in hand, why not reclaim this lost art of letter-writing? Go on and write a letter (the length does not matter). Write to a dear friend, to a relative, to your family, or simply, to yourself. Send across an email to your dear ones. They will surely be delighted to see a personal letter amidst the promotional emails in their inbox. You can preserve these letters for future reading, and relive the emotions you felt when you wrote the letter. I assure you, you’ll not regret it. 🙂

P.S. It would be lovely to receive a couple of letters from you, my dear readers. I would LOVE to read them. 🙂

Until next time, stay blessed!