Dear not yet acquainted,
If you’re out there, I hope you haven’t given up. It’s been a while since anyone has heard from you or about what you’ve been up to. I’m sure it was most likely out of a sense of hopelessness for trying that you decided not even to bother anymore. And, who could blame you? I surely wouldn’t.
Life ain’t easy, but failing sure is.
At least, it feels like that sometimes, right?
Right. I know things don’t always happen the way you want them to or maybe not even at all. But, life has an interesting way of telling us what’s best, bringing random people and unsuspecting thoughts into our lives. It likes giving us what we need more so than what we want and sometimes what we need is far from being anything close to what we want.
I know you might not want to believe this, just like how you might not want to believe that some random person could care, but I didn’t write this letter for just anyone, I wrote it for you. Yes, you.
And, if you’re thinking to yourself, “You don’t even know me. You don’t know what I’ve been going through!”
Maybe, but I might know of someone like you. Someone who’s feeling like a failure or a disappointment to themselves. Someone who’s been reminded of just how inadequate they are or how useless they can be. But unlike those other people, I don’t think I have to remind you that you’re not the only one who feels like a failure sometimes. You’ve heard it enough times. But that’s the thing, it’s only sometimes.
You may have once wanted to be happy and have given up or are wishing you could be happier and thinking about giving up. You may have wanted to live in the past, reminiscing of how much better things used to be. You may have even wished you could go back to living in a once happier time. But perhaps it’s worth considering that what you wanted and what you needed were much different than what you might’ve expected.
Because maybe, what you needed was the challenge, the hardship, and the seemingly relentless struggle of endearment that would otherwise offer you the opportunity to learn, to grow, and to become a more vibrant, more joyous, and much more happier version of you. One that the old you couldn’t have even begun to imagine. But you wouldn’t have known that it was even possible if you had stayed living in the past, for you would have never grown or become more than you were. Don’t think of this a curse but a blessing in disguise.
Believe it or not, there’s a side of you that’s waiting to be discovered that you haven’t figured out how to find inside of you yet. And, that side or version of you could not have come into existence or from who you once were before.
Because that old you, the one living in your memories as a “once happier you”; the one you envy, who’s living in a time where things were supposedly so much better, hasn’t experienced what you have. THAT you won’t know about the pain or the struggle that you’ve gone through. And, that you won’t ever have the chance or the opportunity that you have now. One that can give you strength, insight, and/or a deeper understanding of who you are, for an inner peace more tranquil than you can remember. But to get there, you have to get through it first.
And, you WILL get through it…
…if you don’t give up.
Who you were yesterday is not who you are today. It might’ve made you who you are today, but it’s not the happier you that’s here now. We know that. But who you are tomorrow, also doesn’t need to be the same person that you are today. If you’re still out there, don’t give up. Just take a step back and stop to consider what you haven’t tried yet.
What if you’ve tried everything? Well, tell that wannabe failure inside of you to shut the f*&$ up. Because if you had, you wouldn’t be feeling like such a failure now, would you?
It’s easy to think about everything you’ve already done that didn’t work and it’s even easier to remind yourself of all the ways you’ve failed or, how others might’ve told you how you should’ve or could’ve done things differently.
But in the end, you only need to think about one thing: the fact of the matter is, you’ve never really failed until you decide to give up. And, doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results is the exact definition of insanity.
But, you’re not insane.
You’re failing your way to success.
So just…
Don’t.
Give.
Up.
Stay strong, live long, and fight the good fight!
Yours truly,
The Friend You Didn’t Know You Had
PS — You can do it!
