What My Mailbox Taught Me About Connection
I went for a walk the other day and, almost out of habit, checked the mailbox.
Let's be honest: my mailbox is usually full of flyers and the occasional bill, because apparently our city hasn’t gotten around to modernizing its billing system. I wasn't expecting much.
But there was not one but two pieces of mail. Handwritten. From two humans I recently connected with but have never met in person, both of whom lead communities I joined while trying to figure something out.
My big question: how do I spend less time on social media, and what does it even mean to run a business without it these days?
I stood there, paused and felt something. A sprinkle of joy and gratitude in that moment for these 2 pieces of paper in my hand. Something so simple. There was something about a handwritten note that bypasses all the noise. No algorithm decided I should see it. No one optimized the timing. Someone just sat down, picked up a pen, and thought of me. It brought back a kind of nostalgia I didn't know I was missing. Simpler, slower, more deliberate ways of reaching out. That costs a little time and intention.
I should say plainly: I don't have a clean answer yet. Leaving social media sounds uncomplicated until you remember that your business runs on relationships and referrals, and that for a lot of people, social media is how they find you, apparently, how they remember you exist, and eventually trust you enough to reach out. Stepping back from it isn't a simple choice. It's a systems question about how connection and visibility actually work in your business, and whether the platforms that promised to help us with both have quietly undermined them (and our nervous systems) instead.
That is the uncomfortable place I am sitting in right now. I want less of what social media is doing to my attention and my nervous system. Let’s be honest, it’s painful. And I also need people to know I exist.
So I've been paying attention differently. Looking for where real connection is happening, outside the feed. I can’t be alone in this desire. Can a handwritten note replace a platform with two billion users? I wish it were that simple. But I wonder if I've been asking the wrong question.
Instead of "how do I stay visible without social media," maybe the question really should be: what kinds of connections actually lead to the work I want to be doing? And are those connections more likely to come from a well-timed post, or from the kind of slow, genuine reaching out that a handwritten letter represents?
I don't have data on this. What I have is the feeling when I opened that mailbox. And that feels worth following, even without a clear answer yet.
I'm curious where you are with all of this. Are you holding social media differently lately? Are you finding connections in unexpected places? And if you're also trying to run a business while questioning the very tools you've been told you need -- how are you navigating that?
And in case you are curious, the communities I joined are:
Interweb run by Amelia Hruby
Here's to imagining what is possible…
Have a thought, a question, or a moment of recognition while reading this? I'd love to hear from you. Connect with me here.
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