Get comfortable with your messy handwriting
I don’t know anyone who thinks their handwriting is beautiful. This Saturday, January 23rd, is National Handwriting Day.
It is the perfect day to set aside any inhibitions you may have about your handwriting and dust off your cursive.
Often I hear comments that people feel their handwriting is atrocious, so messy that no-one could read it. I often wonder if our self conscious view of our own handwriting holds us back. For ideas on how to have some fun celebrating handwriting, messy or not, keep reading.
Handwritten charm
One of the things I love best about receiving letters in the mail is the handwriting. No two scribbles are alike. Each one has their own personality. Each one with a unique charm.
In my mind all handwriting is beautiful, because it is so personal. It’s a little piece of that person who lives far away who now feels a little bit closer no matter the miles. I marvel at the fact that the person behind the handwriting took the time to write me.
Easy ideas to mark National Handwriting day
Start a journal, write a letter, play on the chalk board, or maybe write out the grocery list instead of using that app on your phone. If your teens are in the middle of exams right now, have them read this to see why they should take study notes with pen and paper.
For more suggestions, take a moment to look at six ideas to mark National Handwriting Day and have fun going old school for a day. Who knows, you might be surprised at how much you like it.
Do you like your handwriting? What was the last thing you hand-wrote?
P.S. Of course, for another idea to put your handwriting into use, is to write me a letter at the address shown above. I can promise you that I will be checking the mailbox with much anticipation.
Thanks for the post! I shared it on Facebook and offered handwritten postcards to my first five likes. Keep up the inspiration!
Annelise, you are awesome!Thanks a bunch for sharing.What a great idea too, I bet you got way more than five likes. 🙂 thanks for stopping in and letting me know.
Oh I know my handwriting is almost unreadable but I do it just the same…I want a ‘personal’ touch to come in through my words. Yeah…it feels more personal when my style of writing writes the words and not just type (though easier).
I love that you love to write Barb!!
And I love that you love to write in messy handwriting right along with me Sydney! 🙂
I LOVE handwriting so much. It evokes a physiological response in me that I can’t really define. BTW the cursive in the first photo is BEAUTIFUL contrary to the writer’s comment. And, one person who I’m pretty sure this is handwriting is beautiful is the man you featured recently, Jake Weidmann. Amazing! Thanks for highlighting National Handwriting Day. I share on FB that I often hear people at Scrapbooking events (crops, retreats, etc.) avoiding telling the stories of their scrapbook pages (journaling) because they don’t like their handwriting. So sad. Sometimes they tell the stories but in printed (computer) journaling…..better, but I try to encourage them to hand write at least a small amount throughout their albums. Seeing a loved one’s hand writing is so important and enjoyable. I treasure anything (probably to the point of hoarding) handwritten. I rarely throw away a hand written letter/card. So fun to look back on. Thank you for what you bring to the letter writing/hand writing world! I’m happily on board with you!!
Like what you said Melanie 🙂
me too, me too.
You are just a sweet thing, Melanie! I too love looking back at the handwriting from friends and family; somehow makes them seem closer even though so far away across many miles. I am thrilled you are joining me on the journey to keep the lost art of letter writing alive. xoxxxoox
I’m sad when I read they are not teaching cursive handwriting any more. As faras I know, they still teach it in Spain, but maybe teachers don’t give to handwriting the same importance as when we were children. In Morocco, however, calligraphy (both in Arabic &Latin characters) is considered one of the highest arts. I see sometimes calligraphy competitions in schools, for instance.
Calligraphy competitions? I love this, Eva. Thanks for sharing these encouraging tidbits that in some places cursive is alive and thriving. Happy National Handwriting Day to you!
I’m so glad I saw this post. I think we’ll all celebrate handwriting day and write a few letters this Saturday! Some of the school district in this area no longer teach cursive handwriting and I find that so sad. Thankfully, my boys attend a school that (so far) still teaches it.
I was in the children’s section of Barnes and Noble about two years ago when I overheard a conversation between a little girl and her mother. They were doing schoolwork at one of the little round tables and the mother wanted the little girl to write her notes in cursive. But the little girl began to get frantic. She said she wasn’t allowed to write in cursive. The mother asked why, and the little girl said that her teacher doesn’t want anyone writing in cursive or they’d get in trouble. Now, I’m not sure if the girl’s perception matches actual reality, but the fact that she was scared of writing in cursive, even on her own time, because she thought she’d get into trouble with her teacher and/or the school admin. made me quite sad. The public school system’s love affair with technology is relegating art to the darkest corners, so that even cursive, that staple of good handwriting, is seen as a mere relic of a curiously sentimental time, a time that school boards have shown a disdain for.
Lynn, this is indeed a sad and troubling story. Part of me hopes the little girl was confused and wouldn’t really ‘get in trouble’ for writing in cursive, as this seems so incredibly hard to believe that it would be true. Nevertheless, as you point out, for some reason she was hesitant to write in cursive. I do hope her Mom decides to encourage and try again. Such a beautiful art being lost in our schools.
Hi there Jean, I am glad you saw this post too and took the time to stop in and say ‘hi.’ Lovely to meet you here. I love your idea of taking some time this weekend to write a few letters. That’s my plan too. My kids have learned cursive too, thankfully, but do say they are hardly given the occasion to use it.