#30DaysofGOOD Challenge: 1. Send Someone a Postcard

Welcome to The GOOD 30-Day Challenge (#30DaysofGOOD). Each month, we challenge our community members to do something that will improve the world around us—and our own lives. The challenge for September? To connect with other people. In an effort to help us all rise to the occasion, we're going to assign one small task every day. Each morning, we will post the challenge on GOOD.is and Twitter, along with a testimonial from someone on the GOOD team who's already completed it. We invite you to complete all 30 mini-challenges with us! Today, we challenge you to:

Send someone a postcard.

Last summer, as I prepared to cram my life’s possessions into a 5-by-7-by-8-foot shipping crate and move 3,000 miles away from everyone I loved, I received several postcards from my best friend, who was on a road trip through the Deep South.

Inspired by Maggie’s gesture, I decided I would send postcards to friends throughout my 35-day road trip from D.C. to Los Angeles. I stocked up on cards in New Hampshire, in Chicago, in Bryce Canyon National Park. I even made a special trip to the post office for 29-cent stamps. And by the time I moved in to my apartment in L.A., I hadn’t sent one.

Writing postcards was stressful, I realized. You only have about five sentences—maybe three, if your handwriting is as big as mine—to tell someone you love what you’re up to and how much you miss them. After throwing two failed attempts in the recycling bin, I gave up.

I dug my stack of postcards out of a junk drawer the other day. They gave me a moment to relive my trip, the best month of my life. And once I stopped worrying about saying the perfect thing, writing the card—to Maggie, of course—was easy. I told her about my visit last year to the New Orleans cemetery pictured on the front. I told her I miss her and love her. Sometimes three sentences is all you need.

- Megan Greenwell

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Ready, set, go! Good luck completing today's challenge. Share your experience on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook by using the hashtag #30DaysofGOOD, or let us know how it went in the comments section below.

Tomorrow's challenge: Have a conversation with a service employee.