by Jess Salgueiro

As I was given the honour of interviewing several women and reading other’s stories and poems on aging, the same questions came rushing to me.

What could I do differently now? Is there something I’m missing? What can I do to live as fully now and hopefully without regret later?

I did two exercises:

1) I wrote a letter to my 20 year old self. I chose this age because I was graduating College and about to enter the “real world.” What became abundantly clear to me in this writing, was actually that I knew myself quite well at the time. I was full of passion and fervour and confidence in my craft. However I didn’t know how powerful my insecurities were and I would soon start to see the pressures of the status quo steadily chip away at my confidence.

Through this process I gained a beautiful awareness and compassion for myself at that time. It was easier for me to road map what has got me here - 10 years later- in a full, wide, deep, circle back to myself.

2) I wrote a letter to myself now from my older self. You can find it in our AGING issue.

With this I was able to do a powerful perspective shift as I zoomed out and out and out and out from my present life to see the long game of this whole damn thing (life). Again, this granted me a lot of compassion but also helped me remember that I am my own best friend and guide in all of this. I have my best intentions at heart and as long as that’s the case, I think I’m gonna be alright.

I encourage everyone to give it a shot. It’s a lot of fun, truly. Also just a great way to reconnect right back to your fly, silly, tricky, naive and hopeful self.

LETTER TO YOURSELF RITUAL