07/29/2026
If I could write a letter to my younger self, I feel like I would have A LOT to say. I would start by telling her that our life is really really cool. All of her hard work pays off and not a second was wasted. I would tell her that I’m so proud of her and who we turned out to be. The hard times and the adversity were really hard, but they also shaped the way we think, the way we love, the way we co-labor with other people, and the way we care for our work and our community.
I would encourage her to not get hung up on all of the small stuff. And instead of losing sleep over things that aren’t important, encourage her to start dedicating time to figure out who WE are. Not who others want us to be or what we think others want from us. Start pursuing more interests earlier. Find out what we like, what we’re good at, and what brings us life as soon as possible. I would encourage her to change her mind a million times until we walked confidently into who we were made to be. And then, I would encourage her to dream big and trust that there isn’t a ceiling for dreaming. Because even if she never reaches the mountain tops of her little girl dreams, at least she will have an incredible journey.
I would probably finish the letter telling her about the beautiful life we have now. Let her know that it doesn’t look like what we expected, but beautiful nonetheless. It’s full of direction, joy, refinement, trial and errors, healing, support, and purpose. And because she was willing to put in the work, we’re constantly living out our dreams. We get paid to be creative and tell the amazing stories of stranger’s lives. We’re trusted to document and preserve other people’s memories. I would tell her that I’m really proud of us & that I can’t wait to see who we are in the future.
