Sharon Little, GCA CEO, talks about handwriting and the emotional power of cards.
“There are so many reasons why sending and receiving cards is important to wellbeing.
As human beings, when we feel loved, cared for and wanted, we feel warm inside, boosted and happy, all is well with the world. When we feel unloved, unappreciated and uncared for we can start to feel isolated, lonely and stressed, our self-esteem can drop and we can start to feel depressed.
The best gift we can give each other is our time – but we can’t be with the people we care about all the time. This is where a card can mean so much. We know that when someone has taken the time to send a card, they’ve made a special effort. It’s real, tangible expression of caring.
Handwriting is such an important element of this. There’s a bit of magic in ink on paper – handwriting reflects our personality, it’s alive and changes with our moods, capturing that moment of writing in time. We have physically writing we are creating a physical connection. 
Your parents and oldest friends have an emotional connection to your handwriting and you have with theirs. Just seeing your handwriting on an envelope will mean something to them before they’ve even opened it and seen the card inside.
Writing by hand can give us permission to be more emotional and express our caring feelings more openly. Writing just a couple of sentences expressing your feelings will makes a card so much more powerful.
Given that we rarely write letters any more this can be the only time when our friends and loved ones see our handwriting and have this connection.
There are some cards that have been up on my shelves at home for years because I’ve become emotionally attached to them. Every time I glance up, each card reminds me of the person who sent it and why I care about that person, keeping that connection and the positive emotions alive long after the cards were sent.”
