There are thousands of people in this world that can be named as role models, icons, examples, heroes and mentors that guide us and help shape the way we view the world and our lives. Let me tell you about a girl that, if you don't already know her, is changing the world one handwritten letter at a time.
Hannah Brencher is a lover of love. Her life actually has become what it is today because of her enthusiasm for people, writing, and the joining of the two with a heartbeat we all know the sound and feeling of: love. I guess you could say her story begins in New York City, where she moved hoping to change the world with big plans and shortly realized the smallness of us humans. She began scattering anonymous love letters around Manhattan, giving random people some hope to hold on to, while she sat in the darkness of depression. It's often said that the darkest nights produce the brightest stars-exactly what happened here. Out of this dark time in Brencher's life, The World Needs More Love Letters (TWNMLL) bloomed.
The World Needs More Love Letters is a global organization that uses the power of social media to reach people near and far to have handwritten and mailed letters delivered around the world. Basically, you head on over to the site where you can write a letter corresponding to the situation posted and one of the superstars that handles the letter bundling will do the rest. In my personal opinion, it's one of the most intentional, kind and un-2016 things you could possibly do. You get to reach out to someone who's hurting and in need of a little TLC and be the stranger they need to hear from via snail mail.
Brencher has given a TED talk, founded TWNMLL, co-founded If You Find This Email, and even written a book. Her first book, "If You Find This Letter" came out in March 2015 and she is currently working on her second one!
If you can't tell, I'm slightly obsessed with this gal. She has a knack for connecting people across the globe in a spirit that is said to be going out of style. When I mention her name to people and explain what she does and how she does it, one of the first reactions I get is, "Mail isn't a very smart to build an organization off of because social media is ruling the wold as we know it."
OK, yes, point taken. Social media is without a doubt the leading form of communication nowadays, but a few clicks on Brencher's snazzy website with her inviting words, cool graphics and hip phrases will have anyone writing letters to the hopeless, the sick, the depressed and the lost. Picking up a pen and some paper doesn't mean you have to become the next Ernest Hemingway or Stephen King, but it does give you the excuse to brighten someone's day.
Above all else, this is a call for love. The world needs more love and Hannah Brencher is trying to rally the troops to scream that from the rooftops with her. She is an example of what failure, success and climbing over the hump looks like on a daily basis. She lives her life freely, leading by example and bringing people alongside her in her walk through life, making love famous one letter at a time.
