6 Steps to Creating an Encouraging Get Well Card
It’s inevitable in life that those that we work with, live with and play with will, at some point in time or another become sick or be involved in an accident. We can all stand and stare at the racks and racks of get well cards in dollar stores, drug stores, department and card stores until we go cross-eyed and end up buying some silly card that we regret buying the moment we leave the store. However, it is much more personal, more from the heart, and much more meaningful to the recipient when we create our own get well cards for those that we care for.
1 The content
Creating an encouraging get well card can, at times, be an overwhelming task and cause a few more gray hairs. Fretting over the exact phraseology of the contents, we can overthink the content and in doing so we can make it even tackier than the average store-bought get well card. The easiest thing to do in preparing the prose for the card is to sit down and make a short list of the characteristics that you like the best about the patient. You want to include what you think of them, in an “I don’t know what to say, but I love you and wish you a speedy return to your normal, wonderful self” type of start to your personalized get well card.
2 Encouraging things
The one thing that makes a get well card encouraging is to point out things that the patient has to look forward to when they get better. Do they have children, a spouse or a great career? Have they recently bought a nice house, cottage, car or boat that they are particularly proud of? Do they enjoy camping, shopping, travel or parties? Figure out the things that they would look forward to the most when they got better and make those the main focus of your encouraging get well card.
3 Religious beliefs
If you don’t know the extent of the not-so-well person’s religious beliefs, it is usually best to forego a religious tone in writing your own content for an encouraging get well card. But if they are religious then adding something from their religious beliefs in your message could have a great impact on the patient.
4 The perfect pictures
Once you have your list of things that the patient has to look forward to and the most important parts of their lives, all you have to do is put it all in into your own words, and then find the perfect picture(s) for the cover art and the inside fold’s background, or ghost picture. Write personal notes over top of the ghost picture on the inside fold, and type an encouraging note on the outside of the card surrounding the picture, or running alongside or under it.
The perfect pictures to put in your encouraging get well card are usually those of earlier and happier times, with their new family or the one they were born into. When that is not a viable option, try pictures of their pets, their favourite scenic sites, favourite places to visit and people that they hang out with. Place the picture that you think would cheer them up the most on the front fold of the card, taking up no more than 2/3rd of the printable space. For the inside picture try to make it take up as much of the page as possible without being too dark. Make it look like a light ghost-like picture, so that you can write a personal note over top of it.
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5 The tacky messages and personal jokes
After pouring over so many racks of greeting cards over your lifetime, try to stay away from the tacky messages and personal jokes that are so prevalent in them when writing content for an encouraging get well card. The best starting message is one that lets the patient know how much you care for them, and how you look forward to doing your favourite things that you do together with them again once they recover.
6 Sincerity
The most important aspect of making your own encouraging get well card is that it comes from you, from your heart, with a personal message and pictures that remind the patient of times to look forward to or times to reflect upon. The picture(s) that you select to print on your personalized card should be ones that do pretty much the same thing as the message, and since a picture is worth a thousand words your card becomes a novel as opposed to a novelty.
Use a good, heavy stock paper when printing the final version of your encouraging get well card, so that it will be able to stand up on a table. Add a few of the patient’s favourite flowers to liven up the atmosphere of the hospital room and bring a new and pleasant odour into their depressing situation. Nobody wants to be in the hospital, but once there having people bring them personalized and encouraging get well cards and a small bouquet of flowers will make them feel a lot better, even if just for a little while.
