Analog Connections

A Handwritten Letter Each Week

I used to write letters. I loved the time I would spend, pen in hand and a new card I found or made specifically for that person. At times it was an old school airmail envelope or a barf bag from the airplane or a torn out piece of magazine. I would write on anything!

When I wrote, I spent solitary, focused time in my mind with that human. I connected with them. The time spent settled in my body and I felt the importance of that person in my life. Writing directly to them allowed me the chance to let them know how their presence inspired or changed me.

I had no expectation of getting anything back. It was a way to reach out to let that person know they were on my mind and they mattered to me. When I did get something back from them, it was a beautiful surprise!

I got a Facebook account in 2005 and it was an easy way to connect to people from all of the iterations of my life. Friends from High School or even Elementary School came back into view. Old boyfriends that broke up with me decades ago could now be casual friends. Extended family members that I rarely see could be in touch. When I met someone new in real life, I could continue that connection with them online. It was magic! It would be impossible to write that many letters or to build or rebuild connections that quickly. I drank from the firehose and kept bringing people in.

Facebook felt like I was making direct connections with all of the 1,200+ people I built up over time in my “Friends” tab. It felt like I was having the same kind of connections with multiple people that I was having when I wrote those individual letters. And there were even photos and sometimes videos involved!

And so stopped writing letters.

I leaned in to the digital and I stopped writing analog letters. I was right in front of all of these people all of the time and they were right in front of me, so why bother. I saw what they were doing, they saw what I was doing on a regular basis - what was I going to write to them about?

Facebook replaced the letter writing connections.

Until it didn’t.

Until Facebook became a shit show of advertising and fear mongering. My feed full of clothes I have to buy, skin care products that will ensure my 60 year-old face looks 20, Self-Help Conferences I should attend, and angry comments back and forth about the current political situation. And, yes, some posts from my friends that are interesting as a sidebar.

I didn’t feel connected anymore.

And still, I couldn’t get rid of Facebook because of all of the connections I had there that I don’t have anywhere else. The fact is, I don’t have the addresses of most of my friends on Facebook. And who am I kidding? I don’t really know all 1,200+ people on a personal level.

That’s not connection, that’s accumulation.

So, I am making a different decision. Now is the time that I need direct connection with other humans that I care about. I am gathering physical addresses.

I am on a mission to write an analog letter each week to someone. I will spend my time thinking of that person and connecting with them - just them. I’ll let them know how they inspire me. I’ll create a card or find a barf bag and get it in the mail with a stamp. They’ll get it a few days or maybe a week or more later and open it and know that they are important to me.

That’s connection.