Staying connected with your nearest and dearest can be a bit of a struggle in 2020. Something as simple as making time to call your mum or staying close to a friend who’s moved away can become surprisingly tough - especially after a busy few weeks at work, or when stuff goes down in your personal life.
Carving out time to text back or schedule a Skype call is at the top of a lot of our “Must Try Harder” lists, but how can we make sure our relationships with our besties aren’t reduced to a crying-with-laughter emoji every now and again, or a “Love” on their latest Facebook post?
Get Social
Giving someone a quick ring is often the go-to way to keep up to date with the ups and downs of your squad’s lives. But if you’ve got a job to turn up for, family to see, a boyfriend or girlfriend to spend quality time with and all of life’s other adulting to keep up with, time gets short.
Try booking in a regular slot, rally your people and turn up for the date. Use Skype of Google Hangouts to make things visual too if it helps, wear your pyjamas and grab a cuppa and some snacks. It’s the perfect, laid-back solution for close-knit groups, and you only have to relay your info once.
Go Digital
Emails are so underrated. You can send them at 2am after a night out, while you’re waiting for your kebab to go down. You can send them on your lunch break at work, or in the GP’s waiting room, or in the dark of your kid’s bedroom when you’re settling them to sleep. There’s no word limit and you can attach photos or voice clips and add links to memories you’ve shared. Sure, it’s not brunch together or a long chat over coffee, but it’s real-time and guaranteed to keep you close between offline dates.
If you operate a strictly digital policy but your older relatives aren’t so tech savvy, don’t be so quick to write them off between visits. Apps like TouchNote can be a fun solution to analog problems. Just use pics from your phone to turn into real life postcards delivered to whoever’s door you like – it takes minutes and it’s fab for life milestones, shared memories or a quick, cheeky hello. Nana’ll love it.
Plan a Crafternoon
This is a great multitasker If you love to learn something new or lose yourself in a creative project. Try making a date with yourself once a month to get crafty. It can offer precious time away from the screen, provides a good opportunity for self-reflection and there are loads of different ways to make something cool for friends scattered across the country or globe.
Send a good, old-fashioned letter to someone you’ve not spoken to in a while, or doodle a little zine to fill a friend in on what’s been going on with you. We also love a Pocket Letter – 9 little pouches filled with notes, treats and memories… give it a Google, there are some awesome YouTube tutorials. Better yet, you can invite friends who are closer-by to come and enjoy the time with you. Make a brew, crack open the felt-tips and spend some time catching-up.