Have you received the letter you sent?

Writing to yourself has some serious power in it. I wrote a letter to myself on a day that I was feeling great. I’d just come back from seeing friends, going to yoga and had eaten a big meal: three things to make me happy! I decided to write it to be read when I wasn’t feeling like that. The idea is not to gloss over how I might be feeling or what might be going on when I read it, the day might have felt shit, or great or anything in-between, but rather to remind myself what I can believe about myself and that no thoughts and feelings are permanent.

The ideas in here are more natural to some people than others. This isn’t about arrogance, or ignoring the things to acknowledge and change, but about being your own supporter.

I encourage you to write your own letter to yourself. Create space and time and write it solely for yourself, uninhibited. It’s for YOU. No one else has to read it unless you want them to.

Please feel free, as others already have done, to copy this and change it to suit you.

‘Dear self,

I’m writing to you from a place of strength and self-belief. A letter to read when you don’t believe. When you think that you can’t do it. When you think there’s no point. When you think that no-one will want to join you in what you’re doing, whether it’s work or life. When you’re comparing yourself to others and feeling inadequate. When you’re thinking that you haven’t made the progress that you ‘should’ have.

Because you have made progress. You are moving forwards. Even on the days or weeks when it feels like you’re not, you are. You’re moving forwards inside yourself.

Believe. Believe. Believe in yourself, for you are a force. You are a force of nature who is complex and wonderful and intelligent and kind and funny and beautiful. You are going to do a lot of great things. You have already done a lot of great things. You have already helped a lot of people, have already touched a lot of lives in positive ways. You are loved and you will always be loved.

And love yourself. It’s important to love yourself. To accept yourself. Be kind to yourself. It’s okay if some days we do things that are simply good enough. Good enough is good enough. You are an incredible woman.

It’s okay that some days don’t feel right. It’s okay that some days feel wrong. It’s okay that some days you feel wrong. You’re not wrong. It’s just that the words you’re hearing right now are telling you this. It’s just that the voice that tells you this is stronger right now than the one that knows the truth. It will keep coming back, and you can keep saying, respectfully, I hear you and I understand why you’re there, but I don’t need you. You’re there, you can say, but you’re not right.

Remember to bring the lightness. Remember to celebrate the small things. Remember to breathe; remember to release the tension. Remember to laugh. Remember that nothing is as serious as you might think. Remember that no-one is judging you in the way you might think. Remember that everything will pass – whether it’s feelings or thoughts or the situation, or your version of the feeling.

Remember you can do it – whatever you want it to be.

You have gifts. You are sensitive and kind and intelligent and funny and caring and sexy and wonderful. It doesn’t matter what others are doing. It matters what you’re doing.

Be kind to yourself x