An open letter, from me to me

To my dear, authentic, loving and creative self:

I love you.

I know that sometimes, when I’m feeling that my life is flawed and I am a mess, I act as if you aren’t real. I act as if you were only pretend, just wishful thinking on my part, just a dream of the person I would like to be. I act as if you can only be real if everything in my life goes swimmingly at all times, and no one ever gets mad at me, and I never make any mistakes.

That’s simply not fair of me. Furthermore, it isn’t true.

I am asking that you stay with me, that you help me know that I don’t have to be a perfect person leading a perfect life in order to have you inside me. I am inviting you to sing in me during times of stress, to laugh in me in times of confusion, to play with me when I’m scared, to reach out when I’m lonely, to hold me softly in the middle of the hard.

I know that this can happen, as I continue to deepen my relationship with myself — with all of me, not just the parts I wish were the whole shebang, and also not just the parts that I fear are the whole shebang, but the whole enchilada.

I commit to breathing, and listening, and forgiving. I commit to finding something loving and something creative to do, every day.

Thank you for being me!