I am a very nostalgic person. When I go on trips I keep everything from bus tickets to leaflets and I always take hundreds of photographs to look at when I get home. I love thinking of happy memories and remembering exciting adventures I have had. Having something physical to look at makes this easier. One of the most interesting ways to remember things is to read old letters, either ones that you have sent to yourself or letters you have received from someone else.
Living abroad this year has really made me think about how I keep in contact with my family and friends. One of the things I enjoy doing most is writing them letters. I sit down with a cup of tea and write down everything exciting that has happened to me in the past few weeks or so since I last spoke to them. It forces me to think about all the amazing things which have happened and by writing it down, reminds me of how lucky I am to be able to experience so many new things. You can also leave a letter and come back to it later when you have thought of more things to write, which is also helpful if you don’t have much time as you can write it over a few days.
Not only is writing letters an excellent thing to do, but I always think the best bit is when you receive a letter in reply! There is something so exciting about receiving post, especially when the address is handwritten and you can see that somebody has put time and effort into contacting you. It is so special to have a box full of old letters, and reading them back years later reminds you of all the exciting things you once did. In a world where we update our friends constantly over social media, it is easy to forget to reach out to people individually and I think that by writing a letter, even just a note on the back of a postcard, you remind people that you are thinking of them. In ten or twenty years, is social media still going to be around and are we still going to be able to look back at our memories and see what we were doing? Are we going to be able to reread our conversations with family and friends? Nobody knows, but having something physical to hold such as a letter means you will always have those memories.
Do you write letters to your family, friends or anybody else? Is it something you would like to start doing more?
