How many of your neighbors do you see walking out to their mailbox with a smile? How about yourself? I know for a fact that I don't. But why not? They are full of mail like the one on the right almost everyday. The problem is that almost 99% of the time that mail is bills, advertising junk, credit card offers or publishers clearinghouse certificates that let us know that we have won a million dollars for the 17th time in our life.
The goal to write one letter per week is one of my favorite habitual changes that I will be making to my life this year. The first step to this goal I have already completed. This was to call all the credit card agencies, advertising companies and free magazine offers and tell each and every one of them to put me on a do not mail list. If it is not mail from a friend or family, I don't want it anymore. It took me a solid hour and a half of waiting on hold and calling around to accomplish this but I feel that I am 95% of the way there. My mailbox has slowly begun to stop looking like the image posted to the right.
Now on to step two. There are a few really extraordinary feelings in this world. Blowing your nose, taking a shower after camping, love, sitting down with a glass of ice water after working really hard, putting balls of tissues between your toes, and (drumroll) . . . . getting a letter in the mail!
The goal to write one letter per week is one of my favorite habitual changes that I will be making to my life this year. The first step to this goal I have already completed. This was to call all the credit card agencies, advertising companies and free magazine offers and tell each and every one of them to put me on a do not mail list. If it is not mail from a friend or family, I don't want it anymore. It took me a solid hour and a half of waiting on hold and calling around to accomplish this but I feel that I am 95% of the way there. My mailbox has slowly begun to stop looking like the image posted to the right.
Now on to step two. There are a few really extraordinary feelings in this world. Blowing your nose, taking a shower after camping, love, sitting down with a glass of ice water after working really hard, putting balls of tissues between your toes, and (drumroll) . . . . getting a letter in the mail!
My goal for the rest of the year is to approach my mailbox with the same tip toeing concerned approach as the guy on the left mumbling "oh boy, what bill is next?", then proceed to reach in the mailbox, crack a huge smile upon finding a hand written letter and then either dance in the middle of the street in my pajamas or run up and down the street waving my hands like I've seen a ghost. It will be my goal to first surprise people by writing them letters and hoping that they will do some dancing or sprinting around themselves, then all i'll have to do is sit back and be patient.
I could write a ten page paper on why text messages have killed letters but instead lets just think of a few of the positive aspects of letters.
1) Sneaking letters under the desk in school
2) Staying connected with family
3) They are more personal
4) Finding old letters that you used to sneak under the desk in school
5) Letters have more character. Just ask my cousin Alexei, he's a pro at this. You can draw on them, sign them, include
gadgets, surprises and photographs or even burn the edges. (Go ahead, try burning the edges of your text message,
what will happen is you'll end up writing letters because you won't have a phone)
Got anymore?
That being said, enough typing, time to pick up a pen!
I could write a ten page paper on why text messages have killed letters but instead lets just think of a few of the positive aspects of letters.
1) Sneaking letters under the desk in school
2) Staying connected with family
3) They are more personal
4) Finding old letters that you used to sneak under the desk in school
5) Letters have more character. Just ask my cousin Alexei, he's a pro at this. You can draw on them, sign them, include
gadgets, surprises and photographs or even burn the edges. (Go ahead, try burning the edges of your text message,
what will happen is you'll end up writing letters because you won't have a phone)
Got anymore?
That being said, enough typing, time to pick up a pen!
End of Week 16 Update
My average week is becoming quite a bit more busy than at the beginning of the year. By picking out certain habits to add to my schedule every week, there is becoming less time for less important things such as facebook, youtube and watching television. I find myself not staying up to watch movies after work because I have to get up early to watch the sunrise. Tuesday is my morning off of work. This Tuesday rather than waking up at eleven and piddling around on facebook for an hour and then finally getting around to eating lunch I got up at 6 am, watched the sunrise, cooked breakfast, cut my hair, planted 30 Canna lilly bulbs, went morel hunting for 3 hours and picked up a ton of trash before going to work at five. It seems that being active can be quite addictive not only in running but in any daily activity.
My average week is becoming quite a bit more busy than at the beginning of the year. By picking out certain habits to add to my schedule every week, there is becoming less time for less important things such as facebook, youtube and watching television. I find myself not staying up to watch movies after work because I have to get up early to watch the sunrise. Tuesday is my morning off of work. This Tuesday rather than waking up at eleven and piddling around on facebook for an hour and then finally getting around to eating lunch I got up at 6 am, watched the sunrise, cooked breakfast, cut my hair, planted 30 Canna lilly bulbs, went morel hunting for 3 hours and picked up a ton of trash before going to work at five. It seems that being active can be quite addictive not only in running but in any daily activity.
The highlight of the week came during trash pickup. As promised last week, I cleaned up someone's personal liquor bottle dump that I found off the side of 460. When I went to take it all to the county dump I asked the attendant Clyde to snap a picture of me and told him about my weekly goals. His only comment was "as a citizen, I don't expect you to do this , but I do appreciate it." It made my day.
End of Week 16 Totals
Soda - 0 ounces
Water - 56.44 Gallons
Liquor - 0 shots
Tea - 182 cups
Trips to unhappy places - Jimmy Johns (1)
$ to support neighbors = $254.39
Fried food consumption - 2 dorito chips
Breakfasts eaten - 63
Pushups - 880 Crunches - 800
Days Flossed - 48 (missed one day)
Coffee - 0 cups
Sunrises attended - 5
Beers drunk - 0
Gallons of Trash Collected - 60
Items planted - 12 jalapenos, 12 bell peppers, 8 yellow pear tomatoes, 30 canna bulbs,
Letters written - 1
End of Week 16 Totals
Soda - 0 ounces
Water - 56.44 Gallons
Liquor - 0 shots
Tea - 182 cups
Trips to unhappy places - Jimmy Johns (1)
$ to support neighbors = $254.39
Fried food consumption - 2 dorito chips
Breakfasts eaten - 63
Pushups - 880 Crunches - 800
Days Flossed - 48 (missed one day)
Coffee - 0 cups
Sunrises attended - 5
Beers drunk - 0
Gallons of Trash Collected - 60
Items planted - 12 jalapenos, 12 bell peppers, 8 yellow pear tomatoes, 30 canna bulbs,
Letters written - 1