A Sunday Letter Ritual

As I am prone to, I started something. I am unclear if I will finish it but start I have.

I tend to romanticize my life a lot more than I accept. Sitting here this Saturday afternoon as the sun starts dialing up the heat despite the cherry blossoms still hanging on, I am amused at the number of things I persevere to finish with a respectable 60% success rate. Looking back, the rituals that have stuck are the ones that neither have anything to do with the kind, skill or talent, or even that of time (or the lack there of) but more to do with the stage my brain is in.

You see, I have ADHD. Just got diagnosed last week, coz I was curious and I had to know, know. Ive always known Ive had it, just never knew there was a name for it. I discovered the term, thanks to the incredible nuggets of largely useless knowledge I gather on the internet. I joked about it, till I realize how incredibly lucky I have been, to survive, to persevere, to be taken care of and to adapt to it to be a functioning adult and mom. and that one cannot joke about it when it can be debilitating and especially when young ones struggle in our system that’s stacked against them.

The chase is far more exciting than the prize

I digress. Obviously!

Coming back, my new desire is to go analog. I am tired. Being online since the start of the internet (rather say 2007, when I started on Sulekha online forum and this blog on blogger) to now, 20 years seems like a lifetime. It is too. So much has shifted and changed since then and am glad it has. I am glad that there is a slow but steady movement to go analog coz so many of us are sick of “online” plus what with the AI reading us away better than our partners or twins.

I loved writing letters. Handwritten when I moved countries, but I wrote a lot of letters, as in paper envelopes and stamps kind of letters. To my husband, to my close friends and to my dad and this was pre-2000. Then the internet and keyboard took over, until 25 years later, I fall upon an Instagram account (from England and no surprise there) that spoke of writing letters. I don’t think they mention handwritten specifically, but they were paper envelopes filled with papers on written words that one can ship off to different people.

I must mention that ive been Postcrossing for a decade now, so writing wasn’t too new. But a whole ass letter? So yeah, sign me up for The Sunday letter Writing Project already!

..and so last Sunday on April 4th, I dutifully wrote 2 pages in legible handwriting with a green felt tip, enclosed 2 stickers and sent it off to the bookstore couple that started it. I have no idea who will get it, who will open it, would they even be able to read my cursive writing, and most of all, would they let me know? I don’t know! I am unsure yet if I feel like this is not reaching its full circle or does it even matter?

What I did next is even more interesting.

I didn’t stop there. I said, “hmm, are people writing letters elsewhere?” coz I have come to believe that an idea in one part of the world will most definitely spawn another very similar on another part – and lo behold, of course there are so many orgs that do this and we get to write to specific folks. Some fighting cancer, some incarcerated, some forgotten in senior homes, some kids who could use the comfort and so on. True to who I am, I promptly opened a folder on my google drive, opened a spreadsheet, loaded all these orgs and their information down to the dates and felt super accomplished with something I literally just started! Well, they did say Go big or go home, so we are going big.

I also couldn’t find any nice writing paper, so I ordered a lined vintage set on amazon and am now eagerly waiting for it to be delivered tomorrow, so I can start writing.

This post serves two purposes:

• To revive this blog and my writing habit
• Record my latest passion and indulgence (so the handful of you who read it will also be motivated to go analog however way you deem fit)

Why analog, coz its time. Slow down, be present, breathe and know that this moment is all that is guaranteed and there is absolutely no guarantee of the moments that come forth, and the ones that have passed are but a fleeting memory. Plus, so much digital nonsense is messing with our health.

Cheers!