Celebrate long distance friendships – with a handwritten letter
Looking after your long distance friendships
It doesn’t matter if you’re 16 or 60. Hearing that one of your closest friends is relocating, or travelling for an extended period of time, can be tough – even if you’re really happy for them. Or, if you’re the one moving away to a new city for work or university, with exciting new challenges ahead, being separated from your best friends can make you feel lonely and isolated.
It’s hard enough to stay in touch even when friends live on your doorstep. What’ll happen if they’re in a different time zone?
Why nothing says it better than a long distance letter
Nowadays, there are a million ways to stay in touch with each other –WhatsApp and FaceTime have transformed our social lives. Long, chatty emails can carry bags of news or gossip, but they seldom feel like you’re seeing into someone’s heart or sharing their thoughts.
Simply staying in touch isn’t the same as staying close. Emails get lost, or buried in someone’s inbox, text threads meander around from subject to subject, and don’t have that ‘special’ feeling about them. And social media just can’t quite replace the thrill of an envelope – with familiar handwriting – landing on your doormat.
Nothing says “I’m thinking about you” or “I miss you” like a handwritten letter.
Long distance friendships are worth the time
All meaningful friendships take time and effort to nurture, but you have to put in even more effort when you’re far apart.
A letter feels really personal. It can be as intimate as your journal, as confessional as a whispered secret, or as immediate as the joke that you heard today on the bus. Writing by hand makes us mindful of what and who is important to us.
Letters take time to write, and to put our feelings into words. The same amount of time that you probably used to spend over a latte with that same friend. Best of all, we can re-read them over and over when we’re feeling low or missing somebody. We might put them up on our wall or tuck them in our purse.
And you can’t put an email under your pillow!
October’s a perfect time to write a letter
When it’s chillier, and the nights are drawing in, autumn is a lovely time to curl up and write a really long letter. You can take your time, now your social diary isn’t crowded full of summer barbecues, or picnics.
Beat the Christmas rush – write now and post early!
A beautifully written letter, with personalised illustrations or calligraphy is one of the best Christmas presents you can give. And Christmas is only two months away! So, if you’re inspired to write a long letter (hope so!) or design your Christmas cards yourself – here are the latest ‘Last Posting Days’!
- Sending to Western Europe?
Post by 27th November for economy service, or 11th December for International Standard.
- Sending to the USA or Canada?
Post by 31st October for economy class, or 11th December for International Standard.
- Sending to Australia or New Zealand?
You can only post by International Standard and do it by 6th December.
The art of the long-distance friendship
Your best friends deserve your best stationery! And they make the perfect excuse to indulge your own love of stationery too. Choose your friend’s favourite colourways for the paper, or the ink colours. And using your favourite pen will make the whole experience of letter-writing even more pleasurable.
A Zebra 901 will glide across the page effortlessly, so you won’t get wrist cramp, even if your letter stretches to more pages than you first imagined…
Long distance friendships deserve the best
Staying in touch by letter will make sure your friendship stays the distance, however many miles there are between you.
Letters are keepsakes. Like the best friendships, they can last a lifetime.