Thank You, Younger Me
Here’s the thing… I’ve learned a lot about myself over the past several years. I bet you have discovered a lot about yourself as well. The world we live in today hardly even resembles the world before 2016. Anyone else feel that way? 2016 and on… everything seemed to accelerate so fast into a whole new world. I mean besides the pandemic we lived through, the political and socio-political division, we also have a whole new age of technology. Today we live in the world of Tik Tok, online assessments, self-diagnosis and endless amounts of resources at the touch of a button. Although I can see how it can be overwhelming at times, the world of self-discovery somehow seems so much more accepted and readily available - and I for one, really enjoy it.
So here we are. It’s 2022 and I am writing my first book. Recently, I pulled up some writing I did back in 2018 to gain some perspective. I hardly recognize that girl. I mean, she’s a cutie for sure. She writes a lot about accepting herself… guess she was having a hard time doing that. But I began tracing the map of where Lauren started and where she was taking me. I see the through lines of what was important to her. Truth, equality, freedom, curiosity…. She’s always ran forward by digging up past truths. Much like what I am doing even now. Back then it looked a lot like asking questions about the religion she was raised in - going back to “the original script”. It looked like looking at things she was taught to fear dead in the face… It looked like trying on words she never dared to explore, like magic, witch, and Goddess… It looked like loving herself in a way that prioritized finally speaking her truth. So much of what she uncovered has been my building blocks that continues to provide me the safe place I come back to rest on after journeying into new depths of myself, the universe and the wonders within and throughout. I am thankful. SO thankful to younger Lauren. She brought me here.
Let’s take moment and thank our younger selves for getting us here. Younger you did your very best to make you safe. Younger you may not have gotten everything right, but younger you got you here. And that’s what matters.
“Thank you younger me for being so damn brave you were willing to risk absolutely everything for a future version of your life you could barely believe in. Thank you younger me for not giving up. Thank you for loving me.”