Have you ever sent a note without pressing send? Maybe that was a confession, a last-minute wish, just I miss you, or which you were not brave enough to make.
I must say everyone has a past. Just think of a location where one can find all these unsent messages by people scattered worldwide. That is referred to as the Unsent Project.
The Unsent Project is a powerful digital art project where people anonymously share messages they wish they had sent to their first love.
Such messages are usually emotional, too personal, and so honest that they are unable to send messages directly.
Some messages are sweet, messages that are painful, angry, and full of hope. The unsent project is even more unique because each message is complemented by a colour, which the sender associates with the person they are writing to.
In this article, I will explain how it started, what it means, and why it is so impactful.
What is the Unsent project?
The Unsent Project is a continuing text-message archive of anonymous text messages. They are not messages that people sent; rather, they are the ones people never had the courage or the chance to send.
The messages are mostly expressed to their first loves, and, in many cases, they display a full range of feelings which include love, heartbreak, guilt, and hope, to sadness, healing, and beyond.
The Unsent Project is created by an American artist, Rora Blue and captures the human emotions in their unedited versions. It is more like an emotional museum, where one is free to express what they are feeling without being judged.
It is good that at least they will feel good that they expressed their feelings in some way.
To date, there are already millions of messages that are posted by people around the world, and each of them is displayed on the website in colour-coded tiles.
The chosen colour that you’re sending to the sender represents what you feel for the sender.
For example, the red colour shows anger, the blue colour shows peace, whereas the pink colour represents that you are sending messages to show your love and softness.
The beginning of the project
Rora Blue came up with the Unsent Project in 2015 as a student. She was interested in the connection between colour and emotion and how digital communication, primarily texting, had turned out to be such a big part of our emotional existence.
In 2015, the Internet just started to grow. She started at the right time to enter the market because at that time, there were not many apps or websites that were like this.
Her plan was easy, let the people write the message they would like to have sent to their first love and be taken by the colour that they would identify with the said person.
In her opinion, such a combination of text + colour was able to express the complicated human feelings more visually.
Just a few messages turned out to be viral. In a matter of weeks, thousands of messages by people across the world started to be submitted.
Nowadays, there are more than 5 million messages sent to the project.
The Unsent Project, Rora has termed it a place where one can be vulnerable, and truth to be told, this place has become a field —a place where individuals are free to say what they feel.
Why is the Unsent project so popular?
So, what are some things that made this project so widespread and touched the souls of millions of people?
1. It is an Anonymous, Safe Place
The Unsent Project is completely anonymous, which is one of the greatest factors that make it very successful. You do not need to give away any name, email, or identity.
This makes people feel as free as possible to write what they really feel without reservations.
In real life, we tend to suppress things in our hearts. We fear judgment, misjudgment, or rejection. However, in this project, nothing can happen because you can say whatever you feel, without being judged.
2. Assists in Emotional Healing
The longer you suppress your feelings, the worse your health will be. It is a therapeutic experience because many people write their unsent messages.
It is just an attempt to put off some burden that you have had in your heart for some time.
Writing the message helps you to forget, forgive or offer closure even when the individual does not get to see it.
It has been termed as sending a letter to the universe by some people. You are not expecting a response, but are getting out something that is within you.
3. It creates Emotional bonding
The interesting thing that you find when reading messages by other people is that you are not alone. There is one person who was somewhere and who has felt just as you do.
These messages are about love and loss, whether experienced after a breakup or a first love; people can relate to them.
The messages are brief, yet they are loaded with feelings. There are some humorous, some romantic, and some will make you have a broken heart with a single line.
4. It is a Blend of Art and Emotion
The artistic and emotional part is given to the messages with the help of colour usage. Every message turns into something bigger than the text – it is a picture and a visual mood.
The colour system also assists in demonstrating patterns. To give an example, the majority of people connect love and blue, which implies that there is an association between love and feelings of peace or depression.
What are the Messages that are Sent?
Now, let us examine a bit deeper the various types of messages:
1. Love confessions
Not everyone has the guts to confess what they feel about the person they love.
So the message can be “I wish I had confessed my feelings to you when we were in college, and I still remember you cooked a delicious lunch for me!”
These messages are from people who are regretful because they didn’t express their feelings.
2. Regrets
People are living in regret, and now they are realising that they have made a committed mistake.
“I regret not trusting you and ignoring you.”
3. Anger or hurt
These messages are sent with anger because they feel they are being left out and ignored.
“You left me for someone else when I needed you the most. I hope you will feel the same.”
4. Unsent apologies
These messages are sent for apology, they don’t have the guts to say, or they realised later that they had committed a mistake, but it’s too late.
“I’m sorry for how I treated you. I hope you forgive me.”
How to participate
Anyone can be part of the Unsent project. Here is how
- You have to go to the website theunsentproject.com
- Then click submit
- Write your message to someone that you want to send, whom you were unable to confess feelings to earlier
- Choose a colour that represents them or a message tone you want to show.
- Hit the submit button, no sign-ups, no login, your message will be recorded.
FAQs
Is it free to use?
Yes, the unsent message is free to use, even if you don’t have to sign up.
Can I submit more than one message?
There is no limit to sending messages as it does not involve your email ID or your name, so you can send many messages to anyone you want. You can send messages to your crush, family members, and friends with different colours and intentions.
Can I delete or edit my messages after submitting them?
No, you can’t edit or delete a message once it’s submitted; it will stay forever. The project is anonymous, which means they don’t track your IP address, name, or ID, so in that way, you can’t go back and find your messages and delete them.
Conclusion
The unsent project is more than a website; you can express your feelings that you kept within yourself for so long. Finally, there is someone who can listen to your problem without judging you.
Also gives you the hope, in the future, the person will see your message and he or she will will get an idea that this message is for her/him.
Most importantly, it is good for your emotional health, because it will lighten your heart‘s feeling as you finally send a message that you failed to do so.
But at the end, I must say, you have to be a little practical as well and treat it as if you convey your feelings rather than expecting too much from the website in terms of getting messages from the person you’re referring to. For more tech related content, you must check our blog – techyquant.com.
