SubscribeBack when my dance with cancer began, I sent a lot of emails to people, telling them The News, telling them what my schedule was going to be and when I’d be out of action, telling them how I was doing.
Many of the people I was emailing were friends, so I signed off my emails with a simple, ‘Love, Stephanie x’. But there was another swathe of people – colleagues, friends-of-friends who got in touch to offer encouragement, support, and ‘my-Mum-had-it-and-she’s-just-off-to-bag-another-Munroe’ stories – who I couldn’t, hand on heart, reply to and sign off with ‘love’. (Often, we’d never met.) And, given the nature of the emails we were exchanging, ‘best wishes’ didn’t quite fit the bill, ‘regards’ were too formal. After a few emails I hit on exactly what I wanted to say. And I still say it.
So, if you get an email from me, and we don’t really know each other, there’s a good chance I will sign it off, ‘Be well, Stephanie’. That ‘be well’ seems to me to be exactly the right thing to wish someone I don’t know. It’s more personal than ‘regards’, more relevant – especially if the email has been about cancer – than ‘best wishes’. And I like to think about these small aspects of life – the little places we can make a difference. Whenever I type ‘be well’ I mean it, from my heart, and I hope that my little benediction hits the spot at the other end, and makes a little bit of wellness there. When I sign books, I put a little ‘be well’ in there too.
How do you sign off your emails?
I really like that idea. I sign my emails with Love from for friends and family, Kind regards if I know the person a bit and Regards if I don’t but I may be lifting your idea and signing off with Be Well in future.
Be well
Rosalind
Be well is like the Anglo Saxon concept of ‘hael’ – wholeness. I usually say ‘best’ – which can mean anything from ‘best wishes’ to ‘may you have the best possible outcomes in your life’, but I prefer yours.
Oh, please do, Rosalind!
Be well – what a great idea. It captures a feeling without making a mountain out of it. You might just have started a trend …
I like “be well”! I use “take care” quite often for similar reasons.
Ahhh, the penny’s dropped! Totally get it now & love that it is so carefully chosen and genuinely meant. An inspiration :0)
As someone who has received one of your “be well” emails, I must say liked the sentiments very much. It’s so appropiate to you and your dance but can apply to so many other situations.
Like Rebecca I use “take care” a lot.
My brother-in-law uses LOL – which he believes means “lots of love” – he won’t be told otherwise – lol x