I LOVE this, Jen. So many great wisdoms, and love the ending. It’s so tempting to think that we could have told our younger selves what we had to do, but you’re right… these are hard-earned lessons we only learn by actually living, failing, being brave and starting over.
So much of this resonated. Learning to speak to myself like I would to a best friend was probably my biggest revelation in my 30s (glad you figured that out earlier 😄). And lately I’ve been learning to use envy as a compass instead of something shameful.
My kids are at their grandmother’s today, so I’m planning to try your prompts.
Aww thank you Nathalie. Much apprecaited! And yes the ending was quite a surprise to me that I then didn't want to actually send it 😆. I was thinking of reformatting the letter from younger me to older me, but that didn't make as much sense ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
Here's to getting more experiences! (Even if reading books from others' wisdom feels like a cheat code to life, first-hand experiences are priceless and then become *your* stories).
I found myself journaling about not the nicest things, so I definitely believe I will be coming back to the revelation about kindness towards self as well. It's hard to do while tangoing with self-agency and ambition, though. They feel like polar opposites some days. And yes! It's sort of like the envy oozes out when you see someone doing what you thought was impossible, and then instead of fear of the unknown, there's this desire to do it yourself. Such a powerful indicator, like a mentor sort of.
Oh wow, I haven't even filled out using my own prompts yet. I hope you've found some useful?! Those are something I realized I could do (on a dog walk listening to David Whyte) to make this "advice column" piece feel more useful to anyone than a bunch of vignettes, and somewhat cliché ways to be better (from a somewhat naive 30yo). A prompt towards self always is a step toward action at least :)
I love how candid your writing is, and what a clear sense I get of your worldview. You always leave me with a little nugget of wisdom to take into my day.
I LOVE this, Jen. So many great wisdoms, and love the ending. It’s so tempting to think that we could have told our younger selves what we had to do, but you’re right… these are hard-earned lessons we only learn by actually living, failing, being brave and starting over.
So much of this resonated. Learning to speak to myself like I would to a best friend was probably my biggest revelation in my 30s (glad you figured that out earlier 😄). And lately I’ve been learning to use envy as a compass instead of something shameful.
My kids are at their grandmother’s today, so I’m planning to try your prompts.
Aww thank you Nathalie. Much apprecaited! And yes the ending was quite a surprise to me that I then didn't want to actually send it 😆. I was thinking of reformatting the letter from younger me to older me, but that didn't make as much sense ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
Here's to getting more experiences! (Even if reading books from others' wisdom feels like a cheat code to life, first-hand experiences are priceless and then become *your* stories).
I found myself journaling about not the nicest things, so I definitely believe I will be coming back to the revelation about kindness towards self as well. It's hard to do while tangoing with self-agency and ambition, though. They feel like polar opposites some days. And yes! It's sort of like the envy oozes out when you see someone doing what you thought was impossible, and then instead of fear of the unknown, there's this desire to do it yourself. Such a powerful indicator, like a mentor sort of.
Oh wow, I haven't even filled out using my own prompts yet. I hope you've found some useful?! Those are something I realized I could do (on a dog walk listening to David Whyte) to make this "advice column" piece feel more useful to anyone than a bunch of vignettes, and somewhat cliché ways to be better (from a somewhat naive 30yo). A prompt towards self always is a step toward action at least :)
I love how candid your writing is, and what a clear sense I get of your worldview. You always leave me with a little nugget of wisdom to take into my day.
Aw thank you so much for reading Melissa! I always try my best to share what is true to me :)
I'm curious what nugget resonated most with you?
Happy Birthday Jen. Love "envy as a compass"
Thank you Rick! And I'm glad that little lesson resonated.
Happy Birthday girlie!!