WRITE: You're Beautiful. Don't Change.

In December of 2013 I wrote a blog post at Teach Mentor Texts called, “The One Where I Write YOU A Letter”.

Here’s the letter I wrote and shared with my readers:

Dear YOU,

I believe in you. I know you can do anything you want to accomplish. You have dreams and aspirations and there isn't any reason you can't make them come true. Let yourself be in the moment. Let yourself put your heart into everything that you do. Let yourself embrace all the opportunities available to you. Don't let anything hold you back. Follow your heart and follow your head. You have a great mind and you need to let yourself be free to do what makes you feel empowered. Know that you are important to this world. It's a big, giant place with so many people all here to make an impact in some small or huge way but a significant way no matter the size. You may be one of many, but you can still make a difference. Believe in yourself because you rock, inside and out. You're beautiful. Don't change. Just be awesome.

Love,
Jen

Some of my readers responded to tell me what they thought of the letter.

Margaret wrote, “Thanks. I felt your words were written just for me, and at a time (this crazy holiday season) when I needed them.”

Catherine wrote, “Love this! Sometimes it's easy to forget that we ‘are important to this world.’ Thank you so much, Jen, for reminding us and giving us these words of encouragement. And thanks for being awesome!”

Tara wrote,  “Thank you! Thank you for thinking of me, of writing to me, and including words of comfort and encouragement. I will try to be awesome, even if it's at the end of the day and all I can be awesome about is eating the remaining three cookies in the cookie jar.”

Leigh Anne wrote, “Oh, Jen. I have been thinking a lot lately about goals, dreams, and changes. I needed this.”

Michelle wrote, “First of all, thank you! I needed that! Secondly, the letter is so heartfelt and genuine...I felt like it was written directly to me. Wow, I'm impressed. Thank YOU for making me feel seen and important this morning!”

But I'll tell you a secret, that letter was actually a letter to myself. 

I'm so glad I wrote it! Now I can look back and feel strength in my words. I believed in myself then and I should believe in myself now. And you should believe in yourself too!

Let's Write! Write a letter to yourself. What do you want to tell yourself? What advice might you give yourself? What words do you need to hear most? Maybe you tuck it into an envelope and open it in six months. Maybe you send it to a friend who might need to hear those same words. Maybe you share it on your blog. 

There is power in words.

And we can remind ourselves of that power when we write messages we need to hear.

I would love to hear what you want to say to yourself!

Thanks for stopping by!