A Love Letter To Yourself

Every Wednesday, I receive a Spiritual newsletter from Writing.com. 2 February’s spiritual newsletter was about writing a love letter to ourselves. I want to share the newsletter here.

A Love Letter to Yourself The final prompt I gave during “The Writer’s Cramp”  birthday week invited entrants to write a poem or story about finding a letter written by one’s future self on the occasion of their 20th birthday. The entries were all very well done, and many of them had a similar theme of encouraging their 20 year old self to follow their dreams or take better care themselves or not take a loved one for granted. Their writing got me thinking about a possible spiritual writing exercise as we head into Valentine’s Day. We all appreciate receiving notes and cards expressing love in February – what if we took some time to write a love letter to ourselves this month? For a variety of reasons, self-love can be one of the hardest things for us to express. We are taught within our various spiritual traditions to love others – but when it comes to loving ourselves, there can be many obstacles, even though many faith traditions encourage us to “love others as we love ourselves” – which implies self love. Instead, we are often harder on ourselves than we are on others – less forgiving, less caring, less loving. We are more judgmental of ourselves, more impatient, sometimes even more unkind. So what if this February we spread the love around to others – AND take some time to spread love to ourselves as a writing exercise. Let’s write a love letter to ourselves. It may seem odd, or even self-serving – but push past that if you can and give yourself some care and attention. Buy yourself some flowers or chocolate while you’re at it!   What might you write to yourself in a love letter? Maybe write about what you like about yourself, or offer some encouragement if you are facing a challenge. Remind yourself of the things that other people admire about you. Tell yourself that you love you. Write about something you like about yourself. You can choose to keep your love letter private – or if you are feeling brave, you might add it to your WDC portfolio (let me know if you do). It doesn’t have to be long, or perfectly written. Even just a few lines will be a great start – and perhaps it will inspire you to write more than you expected you would. Happy Valentines Day – to YOU, from you!

I decided to write my own love letter and I want to share it with you dear readers.

6 February 2022

Dear Jessica,

You are so damn hard on yourself and I don’t know why. You tend to blame yourself for things that go wrong when they aren’t entirely your fault. Please stop doing that; please allow yourself the same grace you give to others. You are so forgiving and I admire that about you.

You have such a heart of gold. You are kind, patient, and empathic not only to Tom, but all your friends and family. I know Tom is your main worry now, but please don’t worry. You have done nothing wrong, in fact, you’ve done most things right. Your patience and trustworthiness are key, and even though things have hit a rough patch for the past month, please keep persevering even if you need to step back. Don’t ever lose that sparkle and even when things are dark, please remember to be kind and empathic; not only to him, but yourself as well.

This is another thing I admire about you: you are strong and brave. You have never given up and you have never backed down. Plans and goals may have changed, but you are determined. After your rape, you were brave by going to authorities and alerting WCU’s campus about possible danger for other young women. You were targeted and you didn’t want to see the same thing happen to other women. It takes a really strong person to be able to do that and put yourself in another person’s shoes.

I love how you managed to get up every morning and face the day, even when you wanted to die. Those days after Nan’s death, then after the rape, and then Nan’s first anniversary while you were deep in grief about the rape, they were pretty hopeless. Blizzard after blizzard marked 2013-2014’s winter and while the loneliness and isolation were strong, you pulled through. You didn’t give up on yourself and once 2014 passed, then 2015 through 2018, you began to work on yourself. The Happiness Box Project, and later in 2019: therapy. 2021 brought more therapy, a new job, and things are getting better. Your will to live and get better has made the difference. Your Happiness Box Project now inspires others! Your story inspires others!

I love your sense of humour and your sense of wander. You’re curious; you are willing to travel to new places and try new experiences. You don’t shy away from getting to know others, learning about them and their cultures. Others admire your curiosity; they trust you and let you into their fold. You’re open-minded and you don’t judge others. You can put a smile on peoples’ faces and you can give them a hearty laugh.

I love you, Jessica! I love you so much! You are unique, you are special, and you are a wonderful addition to the world.