Love letters to all the girls and women we’ve ever been

I had lost myself.

I was hiding grief and stress and I was trying to fill the gap they left with work and quick-fix distractions. It all, inevitably, caught up with me and it was through becoming ill that I finally found myself again.

There followed a time of immense personal change. It wasn’t easy and there were many moments when it felt like an impossible task. I had tried before… The difference this time was I opened up to receiving support — including from my own inner voice.

And the result was a series of love letters.

Each one arrived on the pages of my journal just when I needed it most.

While I knew the words were there to support me, I had a sense they were written to all the girls and women we have ever been. So I shared them with others. And was touched to find they resonated with them too.

And so, here we are. That very first letter has become a book.

These are reflections on our deepest thoughts; our hopes and our fears. On how it is to change, to want something, to want to move on from something. They’re an exploration of how it is to connect with our self… to learn to love our self just as we truly are — perfect in our imperfections.

I have come to understand that we all hold our own wisdom; that no-one else has our answers. I’ve also come to understand that we hear and see what we most need in the moment we need it most.

Throughout my life there have been books that have sustained me.

The one I share here was the very first letter I wrote.

And I hope these words bring something of that same sustenance for you, and for the darling girls in your life, too.

My darling girl,

Look at all you have achieved.

All the adventures, the challenges, the grand mistakes, the effortless successes, the tears and triumphs, the loves, the friendships, the never-quite-connecteds, the mountains climbed, rivers swam and forests you’ve flown over.

Look at all the things that have brought you to this place – and remember that all those resources reside within you.

They are you.

So this fresh future that opens up before you is one you can enter into with a glad heart and spring in your step, because you have a pocket full of everything you need to greet it.

Take heart, dear girl and remember what joy there is in stepping to the edge of the water and diving in. And remember what joy there is in breaking back through the surface and breathing deeply. Lungs full and limbs strong. Powerful, present and perfect in every one of your imperfections.

We are all, all the people we have ever been, and we hold their lessons with us. Each one like a flower, ready to be picked when the time is right. See that garden you hold within and know it grows just for you – the life force to your own growth.

Go. Be. Do.

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