Email that person.

When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, it was just normal that you'd get your milk, the paper and your mail before leaving the house for the day.

I was always interested in what came through the door, as an excited kid wondering if something was for me. It rarely was. Because most of the time it was bills, advertising or a mixture of the two.

On the odd occasion when someone decided to write a letter rather than pick up the phone, there was always something nice about it. The handwriting, the choice of paper, if there was a P.S at the end. I wouldn't call it exciting, but unlike today where we get bombarded with personalised messages from all sorts of companies, spammers or friends sharing that meme you saw already it was personal and something I think to be cherished. We've lost that a bit, but that's not the point of this little ramble.

But it did feel special.

In the past few decades as email has essentially made regular letters all but extinct, it's probably filled with one of two things. If it's your work email, well it's filled with work stuff. Meeting invites, reports, someone asking for a 'catch up' or your thoughts on something. And if it's your personal email, it's probably filled with advertising or endless newsletters which seemingly everyone has these days.

But when you do get that email from someone, sending you a picture, or sharing a story with you about a trip - it almost recaptures that feeling, of being something special.

But why don't we email people? What's stopping us?

I think it's easier to call, text or WhatsApp. That sounds obvious, but I think most of the time things that we send are fairly transactional. I don't believe that's a bad thing, it's just reality. For catching up, it's so easy now to jump on call (or video call) or maybe, god-forbid meet up in person. Since much like letter writing, that's becoming even more rare of a thing.

When you do get that email though. With the picture and a little story - there's something that just hits different. Almost like that feeling of getting a letter.

So I think we should send more emails. Take the time, think and write to someone. Maybe someone you know, maybe someone you don't. Maybe someone that you really admire or wanted to thank for doing that thing all those years ago, or maybe someone that you really admire and wanted to talk to them a bit more. 

When people used to write letters, you'd need to know their address of course. Now it's quite easy to find someone's email address and while I'm not endorsing stalking or accessing information you shouldn't, but it's increasingly common someone has a social media account, personal website, LinkedIn or whatever that willingly provides an email address.

So email that person. 

I've emailed a few people over the years. Authors I've read and admired, people I've heard at conferences or most recently I emailed a film director that had done an amazing project that feels almost like a miracle it was produced. I'm glad to have emailed every single one.

Is my life fundamentally different? No. You should almost certainly go in with zero expectations, some of these people never even responded (which is expected and totally fine) and sometimes after that initial burst just fizzles out into nothing when you realise you don't really know them.

But who knows what might happen. There's plenty of stories out there of people emailing someone and meeting their hero, or getting an opportunity they never thought that they would. Remember too that these are people, they probably remember what it was like getting a letter and might just smile when they open yours and read it. It's special, it takes thought and care to write to someone. I think people feel that regardless of who they are and can spread just a little bit of happiness.

So email that person. What have you got to lose?