How to Sign Off a Love Letter in the Proper English Way

With mobiles becoming a significant part of our lives, the art of writing has been lost in the traditional sense. Not a long time ago, we used to buy cards and write letters to the ones we loved. However, now with our lives pacing at a speed that cannot be matched, writing is a lost art.

When texting became a modern-day means of communication, everyone was addicted. As the medium of writing changed, so did the effort and thought that went into it. People started customizing certain templates. For example, I have a template on my phone that says “Love you, mum”. While sending the template doesn’t mean that I somehow love my mother any less, it does strip it of the time and energy that counts. I’m pretty sure none of us would be happy, if we ever found out that our significant other had an “I love you” template in his phone, now would we?

If you still think technology is your best friend, then you, my friend need a reality check. While social media platforms have made it quite easy to talk to people who might be really far, we are a generation that feels lonelier than our ancestors. While I do acknowledge the benefits of technology, I am critical of its long time effects on communication. Despite having tons of friends on Facebook, and followers on Instagram, our generation faces anxiety and other mental health problems that evolve from the lack of intimacy.

Here mentioned below are three reasons why you should give writing letters a chance.

When I first switched from texting my boyfriend to writing letters to him, I’m not going to lie; it was a hard period of transition. The reason behind the decision was that we had started to experience a lot of relationship problems. Despite having rough times, we knew we wanted to make this relationship work. So, we sat down and tried to figure out what the problem was. Amongst other issues, the main issue was that texting or calling was a convenient mode of communication, but it wasn’t the most effective one. We often misjudged each other’s intentions through text messages and misjudged the tone. This leads to plenty of problems. Rather than focusing on the message that we wanted to get across, we ended up fighting about other things that didn’t even matter.

When we started writing letters, the first change that I experienced was that I could talk about whatever I wanted to in detail and depth. While texting, you have an instant response, and that might not often be what you want it to be. Maybe you get cut off, or the conversation may go a different path, things like this increase the pace of your conversation and you don’t get anything of value across to the person. When you write a letter, it gets better.

Another reason why you should start writing letters and bring the lost art back is intimacy. Writing a letter takes effort. It means that you will have to take out time and sit down in order to write. Unlike texting, that can be done anywhere, at any time of the day, writing a letter will need a much stronger commitment. Such an effort into communicating with your partner will increase the intimacy between you two. The fact that you’re willing to set aside time and focus on how you feel will let your partner have a better understanding of your personality.

Texting has made communication easier, but it has also decreased intimacy within couples. The immediate responses don’t allow the sender or the receiver to engage in their emotions or the feelings behind the text. For example, if someone writes down, “I love you” on a piece of paper, it holds more value than a text. Saying “I love you” over text becomes a matter of habit, you just say I love you when you have nothing to talk about, and such repetition leads to the loss of value. Therefore you should start writing letters instead of sending messages to and fro every day. The element of effort that goes into writing a letter will surely make the next person value your opinion and hold it in high regard.

While some may think this is only an option if you guys live apart, then that isn’t so. If you leave a letter by your partner's bed once a week they’ll surely be elated when they wake up and who knows you might even have a romantic candlelight dinner waiting for you that night.

What happens when you start texting is that you lose track of who you are and what you want. When I started experiencing problems in my relationship, the major reason was that I couldn’t take out time for myself and what I loved. I was either working or at home texting my boyfriend. Since I worked two jobs, I didn’t have much time to talk, but whenever I did, I would be on the phone with him. That led to many unfinished conversations and many fights. As time went on, we realized that due to the fact that texting requires immediate answers, we often ended up saying something in the heat of the moment that was hurtful to the other person. Apart from that, we were so busy talking or fighting that we didn’t have time to do anything that we loved and that led to a lot of anger, guilt, and resentment being built up.

Once we started writing letters, our answers were not only more comprehensive but also more authentic and genuine. We started understanding each other in a much better way. We thought out our answers, and after going through a few drafts, we came up with the best possible response to any given situation. This not only led us to evolve emotionally but also resulted in a much healthier relationship.

While nowadays you don’t actually need to make signing off as formal as it used to be, it can have the same effect if you sign off with an endearing name that you two might have. The key to a proper sign off is love. Anything that you know will make the other person say “awwww” will definitely work.

If you want to sign off with style you might want to get a look at the classics. Whether its Johnny cash, Emily Dickenson, Beethoven or Keats, each one used a different way to sign off while writing. For example, Beethoven uses the word my immortal beloved, while that might not go that well today, try to use something a little more appropriate to the 21st century. If you want to know a few ways to sign off then read ahead.

What better way to learn how to sign off than to look at the most romantic letters ever written. While “Yours Truly”, “Yours Dearly”, “love”, “forever yours” have always been classics the more formal letters require you to use formal terms such as “Yours Sincerely” and “Yours Faithfully”. The way you sign off can also differ with regards to the person that you are addressing. If you're writing a formal letter remember never to use an informal way of signing off and vice versa.

When it comes to the selection amongst these two ways of signing off, try to use “Yours Sincerely” when you are addressing someone that you know. When you know that a person is at a higher position, and you're somewhat familiar with the person, then you start the letter with “Dear” and end it with “Yours Faithfully”.

If you’ve gone through the above-mentioned article, you might have a better understanding of why old means of communication held more value as to our means of communication today. To top it all off not only have I given you a few reasons why you should start writing, but I have also presented a few ways you can use to sign off with style.