Our friends at Craving Connections podcast inspired us to write letters to our past selves! We had so much fun reflecting on our lives and the things we have learned along the way. Check out their instagram for more! Or write your own letter to yourself + share it with us!
Sarah-girl,
I know the real you, I see the real you, and I love the real you. I know you feel like you have to hide your true self to find your place but you don’t! Everyone will love your silly side. Everyone will appreciate your failures because they make you relatable! Your fake perfection doesn’t inspire others—it only makes them feel like less. Trust me on this. Your real, authentic self is actually your best self.
Things to remember:
1. God is blessing you with a big, scary life. It’s ok to feel fear. You know who is taking care of you. Keep trusting Him.
2. Your first kiss will be magical. Let it happen in its time.
3. Life will not look like you’re planning. That’s a good thing. Keep trusting Him.
4. You don’t grow to like puns. They do not make you laugh.
5. You will get to work with Katie and Dad for your real, big-girl job and it’s better than you’re hoping.
6. Shame is not for you—you live in freedom!
Be brave. I’m waiting for you here.
S
Dear young Katie,
First off, before I say anything else, you have got to know, that you DO wind up marrying Nick Neal! Lol! Is that not the most hilarious thing you’ve ever heard in your whole life! He’s super handsome and real beefy at 29 and you’re super into it, so don’t roll your eyes. It’s the best thing in the world! That being said, don’t be stupid and try to date him at 17 because the way it works out is more beautiful and romantic than anything you could imagine, so just be cool. Or rather, just TRY to be cool, because I know being cool is entirely impossible for you.
Secondly, no matter your age, whether you’re 5, and your kindergarten teacher just screamed at the zoo, or you’re 17, and that clarinet player is spreading lies about you throughout the whole school , or you’re 25 and you got kicked out of church for calling someone an “asshole,” what I need you to understand is that you are NOT too much for the world to handle. You are not too much. You are not extra. You are not too loud, or too passionate, or too excitable, or too emotional, or any of the shit that people have said about you. You’re a little force of nature. Your passion, your drive, your emotion, everything that you think is a problem, and everything that everyone has told you is a problem is actually what makes you great. It’s what gives you the guts to open your own business at 22. It’s what gives you the gumption to buy the nastiest house in the neighborhood and fix it up yourself.
You’re incredibly strong, you’re smart as hell (don’t let anyone tell you otherwise), and your heart is the size of the ocean, and somehow, gets bigger every day for the causes and injustices that surround you. That’s my favorite part about old you, is that you’ve got enough heart to care about everything equally. Your husband, your family, first-generation college students, orphans, feminism, slavery, the elderly, adoption, your business, minorities in general; everything is on the front burner. You just have a lot of front burners 🙂 and they’re all like a billion BTU’s. That’s why you’ll have a lot of enemies growing up, cuz your burners burn really dang hot, and sometimes that hurts (or just annoys) people, but you’ll learn.
Little Katie, here’s some quick-fire tips and you’ll avoid some issue.
1. Emotions aren’t weakness. It’s okay to feel feelers.
2. Some boys are really nice, and you shouldn’t run over them. Boys have feelings too. But some boys are really really mean, and you should avoid them like the plague. If you even have a minor thought that he’s a jerk, HE’S A JERK AND RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!
3. Coffee sucks as bad at 29 as it does at 19, so just don’t even worry about it. Like it’s just bad, and that’s fine.
4. Your body is FIRE and you need to get over your drama with how you look straight away. This is imperative.
5. You should try and be friends with people in your dorm! Like they have ice cream socials and stuff, and you should just go to those things! Why not?
6. It’s really best to just be quiet, Katie. This will apply to about 40,000 circumstances in life, but a good rule of thumb is, it’s just best to be quiet.
7. Always put your dogs in their locked beds before the fireworks start.
8. Panda China closes when you’re like 12, so you really need to diversify your palate or you’ll be kinda rocked when the day comes.
Finally, little sweet, sensitive, soft-hearted girl. Sometimes life jerks the rug out from under you. Hard. And it’ll feel like you’ve got the wind knocked out of you. And I’m just telling you this because at 29, it’s only happened twice so far. Just take your time. Look UP to Jesus, and look OUT and see a world of hurting and broken people. Just look up and look out and in time you’ll start breathing again. And you’ll be okay. And dude, I’m 29, and I didn’t know ANY of the stuff I just told you, and I’m still here!
I love you, and I’m real proud of you.
– Katie
P.S. You should plant Asparagus Crowns like…today. They take like 10 years to finally produce good asparagus, so if you could get that started, that would be awesome! 😉
