Dear Me,
The most common criticism you get is “you’re too hard on yourself” and those words have been true for a long time.
Last year, you went through some really hard things. You walked into every day that was hard feeling like it was your own fault. Your shortcomings and your decisions meant you deserved all the pain, all the bad things, all the ways others didn’t show up for you when you needed them to. I also saw you finally find deeper meaning to kindness and learn what it truly means to be kind to yourself.

So I want to tell you that I am so proud of you for showing up. You stepped into a new phase of who you are. You stopped being afraid and trusted yourself. Even when you made mistakes, you leaned into courage and showed up, apologized and learned.

I love how you default to seeing the good in others. You never realized it was a choice to think that way until the world started showing you it was…and yet you didn’t let it harden your heart. I love how you strive to make the people around you feel good and joyful. I promise to start doing that more for you. I promise to see the good first and do more things to show you that you are an amazing person and someone worth loving.

I love you.