An Open Letter to Myself

I was recently exposed to some writing that a close friend has done. I strongly suggested to her that she share her words and thoughts with the world, as they often help me in my struggles. She has declined making her own WordPress, but has offered up her writings for me to share.

I will be randomly sharing some of her thoughts and ideas on my blog because I believe in them and think the world needs to hear them. This is me shouting from the mountaintops!

Without further ado, I would like to introduce QP and her “Open Letter to Myself”. May it help you as much as it has me.

You and I, we have been through a lot. Been down a lot of dark alleys and stuck in massive rainstorms. We have jumped out of perfectly good airplanes, and felt like we could conquer the world. We have traveled across the ocean on a whim. We have cried alone in the deepest of nights. We have felt powerful, beautiful, peaceful, lonely, sad, and lost.

I know you are headstrong. I know you often miss the red flags, miss the warning signs, get caught up in the charge forward, only to realize you are storming the wrong gate. I know that sometimes you have to kiss the pavement to learn. Here are some gentle reminders for the path ahead.

– If you are lost, quit walking and sit your ass down. Evaluate your surroundings. Evaluate the positives and negatives. Choose a path. Choose wisely.

– Just keep swimming. Once the path is chosen, and the excitement of a new journey wears off, keep on keeping on. Life can’t always be shiny. Sometimes it’s dull work. Sometimes it sucks. Every day is a step forward.

– You can’t jump ship on yourself. You are stuck with me, and I with you. You can’t divorce me and I can’t serve you a pink sheet. You may not be holding aces, babe, but at least your still sitting at the table.

– It’s always about you. Focusing on what others can do to make your life easier is a practice in frustration. It’s a waste of energy, and you ain’t no spring chicken anymore, sorry to say. Focus on your thoughts, your actions, and do what is within your power to better your life. It’s amazing how much falls into this category when you quit wasting energy on what “should” be.

– Be someone you’d fuck. Physically, emotionally, and socially. Focus on presenting yourself as the kind of person you would fuck. If you don’t like it, either shut up and accept it or get your ass in the gym and change it. I’d fuck me. I’d fuck me hard.

– See yourself honestly. You aren’t blameless. You aren’t Mother Theresa. You sometimes show your ass and need to own that. You also aren’t a total loser. You aren’t that geeky kid wearing mismatched Jams and jelly bracelets anymore. Be realistic in your view of yourself.

– Value your strengths. Maybe there are a billions of folks out there in the world, but only one of them is the weird mashup that is you. Rock that. Rock right the fuck on with that.

– Nobody shits daisies or pisses sunlight. From the Queen of England down to Bonanza Jellybean. The only people who are better than you in this world are the ones you allow. The only people who you are better than are the ones you are undervaluing.

– You will continue to date people who are as emotionally healthy (or as psychotically fucked up) as you currently are. Use this as motivation to keep learning and growing.

– Everyone you interact with has something to teach you. Learn from them.

– Shut your mouth and open your ears. As a general rule. (I know, this one is hard, but do it anyway. I KNOW! Now shut up and listen!)

– Always keep some fuck off on tap. Turn your back to the drama and negativity. It’s not worth your time or effort.

– There is no whining in the champagne room. So what if your feet hurt. Be grateful you have shoes. Many don’t. Hell, be grateful you got FEET.

– Give freely. If you give and others only take, you still gave. What happens after that isn’t yours to own.

– See other people for who they are. Don’t shoulder them with the emotional baggage left over from others. Don’t crown them with the expectations of perfection. We are all just doing our best here with what we got. And here’s the secret of life.. nobody’s holding aces.

– Communicate to the best of your ability. This means talking AND listening. This means saying the hard stuff, and hearing it too. This means not getting all “let me tell you about you so I don’t have to deal with me” (yeah… that’s a fun time waster, but Words with Friends is better in the long run).

– Be the person your grandmother taught you to be. Because grandmas are always right. Be the strong, independent, loving person who she raised and cultivated via the cunning use of cookies and Scrabble games.

– Now go back to the top and reread. Repeat as needed.