Dear Past Self

Dear past self,

The thing you're most afraid of right now — it passes. And it leaves something behind that you'll actually keep.

I know you don't believe that yet. Fear has a way of filling all the available space, making itself feel permanent, making itself feel like identity. It isn't. You aren't your fear. You're the person who gets up on the other side of it.

What I want you to do less of: apologising for existing. Taking up half the space you're entitled to. Deciding in advance that the answer is no.

What I want you to do more of: asking. Waiting. Trusting your own reading of a room, of a person, of a situation. You're right more often than you let yourself believe.

The doubt is not the problem. The doubt is useful. The problem is when you mistake the doubt for a verdict.

You will make it through what's coming. You'll be tired. You'll be different. You'll be glad.

With love,* *Niomi