Monique, I love these 'letter-to-self' pieces. I particularly love your choice of that period of life .18 is that milestone age where so much is expected, yet so much is unrequited. I remember at 18, for some reason, I felt the weight of the world bearing down upon me--as though I was supposed to take all that on at the same time. Which of course is an illusion of perception. At the same time though, nothing anyone can say or do would convince my younger self otherwise. Now, I suppose I'd tell that younger self to take it easy and that the world is upside down for good reasons: to call upon each self the torch of claiming ownership of their own path. Your writing is a great reminder of this.
If only our 18 year old selves could hear us out here in our 40’ & 50’s. I wonder what I would have thought of me now, back then? Although life has its twisty bits, its complicated turns, its frightening lurches, and its glorious peaceful spots, it makes us who we are. The woman I am today started with my eighteen year old self saying yes to a chef’s apprenticeship, saying yes to working volunteer in the UK, and saying yes to a whole bunch of stuff I should have said ‘no’ to.
Learning is hard!
I think I’d like to give the younger me a big hug, and tell her that everything will be okay. Stay true to your path, stick up for yourself a little more, and keep your little light shining.
Thanks for this piece, Monique, it was truly beautiful x
Thanks so much, Maggie. I wonder what I would have thought of myself back then too ... but as you say, all the choices and challenges make us the women we are. I love your line "keep your little light shining" - it makes me think of a little star in the sky.
This was so beautiful and touching Monique. The remembering of all of our selves and life chapters is so powerful. Thank you for sharing this letter to your 18 year-old self and the magic of following your dreams xx
Thank you Lyndsay. It'd be interesting to write a letter for each decade or milestone ... a letter to my married self, and so on. What I enjoyed about this was seeing what I still had to work on!
Thanks for sharing this vulnerable and empowering article Monique. Your message resonated with me. I think it is really important to have grace for our past self. As we grow in maturity and wisdom it can be impactful to look back with love and tenderness on that less experienced version of ourselves.
Thanks, Matthew. I wonder what you'd write to your past self. To me, grace for our younger selves is so necessary - and really, if we were given this letter at 18, would we have listened? Hmmm ... there's an idea ;)
Monique, I love these 'letter-to-self' pieces. I particularly love your choice of that period of life .18 is that milestone age where so much is expected, yet so much is unrequited. I remember at 18, for some reason, I felt the weight of the world bearing down upon me--as though I was supposed to take all that on at the same time. Which of course is an illusion of perception. At the same time though, nothing anyone can say or do would convince my younger self otherwise. Now, I suppose I'd tell that younger self to take it easy and that the world is upside down for good reasons: to call upon each self the torch of claiming ownership of their own path. Your writing is a great reminder of this.
Thank you for the mention!
If only our 18 year old selves could hear us out here in our 40’ & 50’s. I wonder what I would have thought of me now, back then? Although life has its twisty bits, its complicated turns, its frightening lurches, and its glorious peaceful spots, it makes us who we are. The woman I am today started with my eighteen year old self saying yes to a chef’s apprenticeship, saying yes to working volunteer in the UK, and saying yes to a whole bunch of stuff I should have said ‘no’ to.
Learning is hard!
I think I’d like to give the younger me a big hug, and tell her that everything will be okay. Stay true to your path, stick up for yourself a little more, and keep your little light shining.
Thanks for this piece, Monique, it was truly beautiful x
Thanks so much, Maggie. I wonder what I would have thought of myself back then too ... but as you say, all the choices and challenges make us the women we are. I love your line "keep your little light shining" - it makes me think of a little star in the sky.
And I do wish I'd stuck up for myself more too.
This was so beautiful and touching Monique. The remembering of all of our selves and life chapters is so powerful. Thank you for sharing this letter to your 18 year-old self and the magic of following your dreams xx
Thank you Lyndsay. It'd be interesting to write a letter for each decade or milestone ... a letter to my married self, and so on. What I enjoyed about this was seeing what I still had to work on!
This is beautiful Monique - and so inspiring for the fellow novelist dreamer like myself. Be loud and proud of what you've accomplished. ❤️🎉
Thank you Steph! And keep following your dream too.
Thanks for sharing this vulnerable and empowering article Monique. Your message resonated with me. I think it is really important to have grace for our past self. As we grow in maturity and wisdom it can be impactful to look back with love and tenderness on that less experienced version of ourselves.
Thanks, Matthew. I wonder what you'd write to your past self. To me, grace for our younger selves is so necessary - and really, if we were given this letter at 18, would we have listened? Hmmm ... there's an idea ;)
Love this. What a lovely exercise to do. I'm going to write a letter to my 18-year-old self x
I would love to read it.
Done. Thanks for the nudge x https://megdunley.substack.com/p/dear-you