ASHLAND — April is National Card and Letter Writing Month, a celebration that was started by the United States Postal Service in 2001.
While many rely on social media to reach out to others, or on text or email messages to connect routinely, we cannot lose sight of the value of hand-written letters or messages in cards.
By engaging in the process, we share our hearts, sincerity, and time.
We connect or attempt to reconnect at a deeper level, with a unique, personal touch revealing that we care. Letters and cards can be held on to, and preserved.
During a time in our country when loneliness is epidemic, when there is a tremendous need to forge and strengthen healthy social connections:
Let’s use this month to show the true value of expressing love and caring, of celebrating lives, and of “connecting” in a concrete way that can bring joy.
IDEAS FOR COMPOSING LETTERS AND MESSAGES IN CARDS
Send a Happy Spring card. Share your thoughts about the passing of winter and what you hope the new season holds. Perhaps share a snapshot-in-writing about the worst or best experience you had during the winter, and express what you plan to do now that the cold and snowy season is coming to a close (e.g., gardening plans, decluttering).
Craft a letter of gratitude to someone who has made or is making a major difference in your life.
Create a letter in which you address a special memory from the past. Include a photo if possible. Take a moment to reminiscence, to express how much that moment meant to you at that time and even now.
Create an epistle, which is a letter and verse poem of no specific form. It can be short in length or many pages long. Attempt to capture what the recipient will find interesting, meaningful, even inspiring. Wondering what it might look like, how to start off…?
o Dear ….,
I wish you knew how much you mean to me and others,
How much you are cherished.
You touch hearts through random acts of kindness,
Offering hope, compassion, and love
Send a message expressing how proud you are of someone, especially a child or teenager, noting reasons in an engaging way.
Write a letter to yourself that you can read in the future, expressing your hopes, dreams, and regrets, what you are wishing for in the coming year(s).
Simply send a message that indicates, “Hello, thinking of you. How are you doing? Let me fill you in on a few things going on in my life.”
Write a letter about something that has truly brought you joy, made you smile, an event/opportunity/experience that offered hope and so much more. Share it with someone you love and who loves you.
IDEAS OF WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR ENVELOPES OF ANY SIZE
Create a ripple effect by encouraging others to write cards and letters, providing them
with some concrete tools
o Enclose sheets of stationery, envelope, and stamp
o Enclose a lovely card, even one that you have created, with stamped envelope
o Enclose a postcard
o Enclose stickers to include with card/letter when the intended recipient is a child
Enclose photo(s) that are linked with the theme/content of your letter (e.g., special memory), a journal, a small memento, artwork created by you, a package of flower seeds, comic strip, a pen, or a copy of your favorite poem.
CONNECTING WITH OTHERS THROUGH WRITING LETTERS AND MESSAGES IN CARDS Bring joy to someone during the month of April – create a hand-written letter or message in a card.
Types of letters that can be written have been suggested. You can make a difference in the lives of the recipients of your messages!
You can write to those who know you well, to those you have lost touch with and want to reconnect with.
You can reach out to residents of nursing homes, individuals serving in the military overseas, children/students who are revealing themselves to be leaders and initiating their own legacies, someone whom you know is struggling in any realm, older adults in your area, and those who are isolated.
You can make someone’s day, regardless of age! And yes, your words can touch someone’s heart, making him/her feel valued and respected.
Promote personal connections, minimize loneliness, and decrease social isolation – one card or letter at a time!
Diana Spore, PhD, MGS, is a freelance writer, social gerontologist, mental health advocate, and older adult.