The Perks of Having a Pen Pal
In the digital age where people are more connected than ever, having someone who lives a thousand miles away writing to you every once in a month might be a morbid idea. Yes, we’re talking about snail mailing with a pen pal. However, those who have done it before will likely agree that nothing beats the excitement of getting pens on paper as you get into your full writing mode! Ever wondered what good does having a pen pal bring you? Here are our top answers:
1. Builds Friendship and Connection
Of course, sending and receiving letters as the both of you share your stories and interests are a good way to form an intangible bond with your pen pal. The connection is much deeper as writing letters requires you to think before you express yourself on a piece of paper, because you don’t want to smudge it with liquid paper so often nor do you want to talk about something so dull for an entire paragraph. Your communication will become more purposeful and the way you express your thoughts will not be the same as when you’re texting your bff over some messaging app. And don’t be surprised if your pen pal ends up becoming your lifelong friend or partner as this is quite common among the pen pal community. Who knows you might find a Seoul-mate from Korea one day? (pun intended).
2. Hone Your Writing and Reading Skills
Either you are writing in your first language or second language, nobody can deny that it’s more comfortable writing an entire letter to a friend than writing an essay for a teacher. Having a pen pal who has better mastery of your second language will help a lot in improving your grammar skills. The fact that the younger generation nowadays are prone to use abbreviations and slangs over full sentences is pretty worrying and snail mailing serves as one of the recommended ways to save their writing and reading skills from going worse. It helps bring them back to their fundamentals of writing, and this will slowly teach them to put their perspective into the right words and expressions.
3. Allow You to View Life from a Different Perspective
This is especially true if your pen pal’s life is 180 degrees different from yours. This could be when you’re writing letters to a friend who is living in another side of the world or perhaps someone in your area/country who comes from a completely different background than yours. You could be a Catholic in America writing to a Muslim in Malaysia or you could be a hot stuff at school living in a broken family writing to someone who struggles with low self-esteem but comes from a happy family instead. All of these will give you different insights on how people who come from different cultures, religions, and social status go about their lives and what struggles they face everyday. Some even think of it as if they’re reading a real-life storybook but what makes it special is that the main protagonist is talking to them directly.
4. Encourage Patience
That’s right. Waiting for your pen pal to reply to your letter will teach you patience. A lot of it. I mean, it’s called snail mail for a reason. You don’t need to agonize over notifications and you can just go about your life normally before the next letter knocks into your mailbox. There’s something about delay gratification that gives you an inkling of delight like no other as soon as you get your reward after a long wait. Give it a try and you’ll understand how it works *winks*.
5. Build Up Your Creativity
If you haven’t seen a pen pal letter, it’s time you Google for some examples. Most pen pals will decorate their letters to make them look attractive and entice the receivers to open them quickly. You finally have a reason to play around with your colored pens and markers, cute stickers and washi tape! Get them all over the envelope and see your letter coming to life with a touch of your creativity. You can even insert your handmade bookmarks, folded posters, pictures, and anything that can fit into the envelope. Most of them take this letter writing activity as an opportunity to engage in a wonderful outlet that allows their creative juices flow.
Interesting isn’t it? Well, it’ll be more so if you’re the one who writes and receives letters from your favorite pen pal. Looking for unique decorative cards to send to your far-away friend? Give this site a go: https://www.malaysiagrandbazaar.com/collections/stationary