In April 2020, I used a pen to write my first letter to my family friends in England. If I’m being honest, it was all pretty surface-level information, yet it felt somehow more meaningful than any heartless text or email.
If I am being simply honest, I didn’t really think much of it until I received the handwritten response updating me on their lives.
Emails and text can be slightly meaningless for one basic reason: the lack of care. You can simply text anything such as “Hi,” with no intention of deepening a connection or the betterment of a relationship. With letters, they’re an art form and not simply a task to be fulfilled.
The letter meant nothing to me until its acknowledgment of existence. That is the beauty of the letter. Over time, I finally started to understand the intense emotions people of the Renaissance experienced while awaiting letters from their loved ones.
Over time, I grew a respect for the art of letter writing. I soon became an avid letter writer with a nearly weekly visit to my mailbox.
The skill of writing emotional yet meaningful prose is the power of a beautiful letter. I have written to many family members, friends and even Sir David Attenborough.
But one letter that stuck out to me was my letter to the late Queen Elizabeth II. In 2021, I wrote to the Queen, confessing my love for the Crown — which I have since deeply lost — not expecting any response. A few months later, I received a letter with her late majesty’s seal on the back.
I had since forgotten about the letter, but opening it filled me with great excitement. I carefully peeled open the letter to see a typed letter from the Queen’s lady-in-waiting. Even though it wasn’t directly from the queen herself, it still felt immensely special to receive a response from such an eminent person.
My love for the art of writing letters only grew from there, and I soon developed an intense love for stationary, particularly pens. In recent years people have forgotten the beauty of fountain pen ink on rough thick paper being placed through a mailbox. But this is where I found solace and a connection to those before me and those with me.
So I urge you to find time in your stressed busy schedule and send a letter. Be it to Kim Kardashian, your childhood best friend or your neighbor — it simply doesn’t matter. But sit down and spend that time thinking through what you want to say and put pen to paper. Place it into the envelope. Lick the adhesive. Write the address. Place the stamp on the top right of the letter. And post it.
What’s the worst that can happen? You spend 20 minutes writing something that means 10 times more to the recipient than any text or email could ever deliver.