“Travel tip for your next vacation: Send postcards” I wrote.
Tanner asked of this postcard advice, “To who? Why?”
I had thought about these questions, but I didn’t share them at the moment. (I should share the Who and the Why more often.)
Who should you send postcards to? Your close folks! This includes biological family and all the others that fall into the category of your tribe that you consider solid.
Going through my phone contacts was a wonderful exercise of remembering many who I very much would like to see again. It was also a moment to consider those with mailing addresses I did not have. A list of folks I’d like to know better emerged.
Writing postcards is a time to take stock in who you care about and who is important. It’s entirely acceptable—in my mind—to deem someone important even if you’ve never really met them proper. Make that list, reach out, offer crossing paths.
Why? It’s great to slow down and not look at a screen. And it’s nice to exercise the connection between mind and hand. Writing is exercise. If you’re rusty, once you’re over the cramps, there’s a lovely intention and fluidity that may emerge. Scribble out the mistakes. Add some drawn emoji to apologize—working with the small canvas and accepting mistakes is part of the charm. Delight in each flaw, sign off and stick a stamp on it.
It’s scientifically proven you’ll feel better once you put them in the mailbox. I do not have this research fact on file, but I don’t think facts matter at this point. (I do hope they matter again one day though!)