The Art of Saying Hello

This weekend I found myself thinking about the beginning of email. When every new message arrived it was exciting because it was a note from someone you knew or someone looking to know you.

We didn't have tons of emails yet and spam was out there, but it was a rarity compared to today's constant stream.

I wrote a long email to a few close friends updating them on what was going on. It was the sort of stuff we'd put into letters to friends and it felt good.

Then, I decided to take it a step further and sent a similar quick update to my newsletter. No selling, pimping or anything. Just a simple hello, an update and a request to hit reply and let me know what was going on in their lives.

This morning I woke up to a beautiful inbox full of replies.

People I hadn't talked to in years letting me know what was important in their lives right now. Some people were introducing themselves for the first time to me as they'd only been subscribers and never said hello before.

It felt great to reply back to each of them. To not care about anything but the conversation we were having.

All these tools, apps and gadgets to keep connected and yet we barely know each other any more.

Do your part to say hello to people today. Don't forget to be human.