̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄ Get Free: Let's talk about TEXTS

Dear GFFs, 

Before we dig in this week, how are you doing, like, for real? I’ll wait…

While The Get Free Guide isn’t a news outlet or a place to recap what’s happening in the world, I can’t pretend that big things, painful things aren’t happening to us and around us. Calls with friends and family sit on an undercurrent of concern, and nerves are frayed (and more) as folks try to make sense of all that’s happening. It’s a lot. While we can’t control everything, we can always choose how we show up for each other, and how we take care of ourselves. Kindness - to others and to self - goes a long way. Sending everyone a big hug. We don’t gatekeep around here.

LET’S TALK ABOUT TEXTS, BABY…

Thinking about kindness this week took me down a rabbit hole of connection and community. How are we - how am I - showing up for folks, not just in these crunch moments, but on a regular Tuesday? The answer: Texts, WhatsApps, DMs.

I think about someone? I send a text. Want to catch up with friends? I’m jumping in the group chat. Got something to share with my neighbors? There’s a text thread for that. Want to wish someone luck before they take down their clown of a boss? My fingers go to work! No one can tell me I’m not doing my part for the 23 BILLION messages that are sent every day worldwide (that’s actual data, not me exaggerating!) That’s a lot of energy being used with all those fingers flying! 🔥🫠

Texts have become the happy birthday greeting, the condolence message, the “you got this” rally, the way to date without spending a dime on dinner or coffee, the check in on your elders (my parents are CHAMPION texters. Every day with the forwarded Bible verse. IYKYK) - literally everything. I will have whole conversations with friends via text and not TALK to them for weeks. (And some of those chains have to go to the grave, because the TEA is HOT!) 

TO TEXT OR NOT TO TEXT. THAT IS THE QUESTION

But - and this feels like a big but - are we losing out on real conversation? Are we sacrificing connection for the sake of convenience? Are we losing our sources of history because everything is digital and, well, who knows what will happen to Beyoncé’s internet?

As a kid, there were no cell phones and sitting on the house line for hours on end was a no-go. So you know what we did? We wrote letters! We got our Aaliyah Four Page Letter on and wrote. Whole pens would run out of ink, because it would all end up on the paper. 

PENNING THE PALS

Over the summer there wasn’t a day I didn’t crack open my writing paper (I had STATIONERY, y’all!) to pen a letter to pals overseas or friends across town. It’s how we kept in touch and spilled all the teenage tea. Letter writing followed me to college; the daily mailroom run filled with the promise of notes from friends also experiencing life away from home for the first time #mess. I even had an admirer (don’t get excited, it didn’t work out) who made me a card shaped like a bag with a cut-out cat caricature inside. When you pulled the ears it said “the cat’s out of the bag.” Y’ALL! To this day, it’s hands down the best way someone has asked me on a date (sorry, Hubs. I love you!) 

Whole histories of my youth are captured in those letters. But I haven’t written like this in years. Long emails, yes, but a handwritten, pour-it-all-out letter? Nope.

Where are our histories - what we’re thinking, what we’re feeling - documented now? What will exist when we’re gone? 

SO, WHAT’S THIS WEEK’S GET FREE TASK?

Here it is. I want to get free of reliance on communicating via the tiny keyboard on my phone. Don’t get me wrong, texting is how families close distance across oceans and how business happens in some countries. But I miss the smell and feel of good paper and the way a pen glides across the page. I miss licking stamps (I know they stick now!) I miss getting things in the mail that are not junk or bills. And I miss the delayed gratification of waiting for a letter and the news within it. Somehow it means more.

Is this just me? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Are you trying to get free from texts?

In the meantime, before the end of this month I’m going to open my address book (ok, this is now digital), buy some nice stationery and send a letter to a friend. Let me know if you decide to do the same!

🚀Get Your Life: Things to read, listen to, enjoy🚀

📚What I’m reading: I usually read my books but I stumbled into the audiobook of Matriarch by Tina Knowles and her storytelling is everything! Support local bookstores if you decide to purchase the paper copy. My favorite is Octavia’s Bookshelf in Pasadena, CA

🎧What’s on the pod: I have been a Luvvie Ajayi Jones fan since her Awesomely Luvvie blog days. Her podcast, Professional Troublemaker is incredible, and the closing episode - Finish Strong - is something all creatives and business owners should listen to. Chef’s kiss!

🎵 Soundtrack for the week: It’s Alright, I Feel It by NuYorican Soul feat. Jocelyn Brown. My daily pick me up! 

✨ If you’ve got a recommendation drop me a line. ✨

THANKS FOR READING!

If you got something out of this issue of The Get Free Guide, give us a follow or a shout out on Instagram and share the love with a friend. We don’t gatekeep around here!

See you next Friday!