Letters to Myself: Entry Fifty
Prompt: If I Was Writing a Letter to My Younger Self, What Would I Say?
A letter to myself for the 50th time during this series. I reflect heavily on how I have grown and what I would tell my younger self knowing we have reached this milestone.
I can’t believe we are at Letter 50. That feels wild to say out loud.
There is something beautiful about the compound nature of consistency; how small actions, repeated over time, slowly shape who you become. That momentum is the reason I keep going. I think eventually there will be new layers added to these pages, but if I am going to continue this series, I have to keep showing my progress in real time. I have to keep refining, keep pursuing growth in the arts and practices I care deeply about; which, truly, writing has become one of those things for me.
Not just for myself, but for anyone who decides to stop by my site and read these letters. Every one of them is an extension of me, and I hope they continue to be. I want this series to grow into something even bigger than I can currently imagine. I do not fully know what that looks like yet, but I know I am going to keep working until I find it; after all, this is my stamp on this life.
If I can give something back to the greater human condition, then I am going to do it; through reflection, through words, through honesty, all of which is my compass moving in the forward direction. If I were writing to my younger self, even just the version of me from a year ago, I would tell him to brace yourself; to brace yourself for the new wave that is coming.
Life will demand more from you than you expect. It will ask for patience when you are tired, discipline when you feel weak, and courage when you would rather run. We are meant to work hard without applause; we are meant to carry burdens that do not come with trophies or prizes; and strangely enough, that is where peace begins.
I even think about something as simple as my email inbox. Why do we keep things we know we will never return to? Especially advertisements that are meant to steal our attention. Why do we hold onto unnecessary weight? Old messages, old guilt, old attachments? Delete the damn thing!
You do not need every small stressor following you around. Those little things add up, they become heavy, and they pull you downward; let them go…
When I think about my younger self, I think about someone filled with frustration, pride, and strange ways of trying to survive. Young and dumb, like most people would say, but I do not want to judge that version of me too harshly. Why would I? He did not know better yet.
I would rather look back with grace and say: look how far we have come. And we have; I can confidently say that. If I could tell the younger version of myself one major thing, it would be this: stop judging people. This alone will free your mind.
If you constantly feed negative energy, gossip, bitterness, and judgment, you become a prisoner to it; and trust me, drama feels exciting, but it is poison if you let it live inside you.
Instead, make sure to listen.
Hear people’s stories; reflect inward; ask yourself what you can learn from their experience. That is where growth begins. When you stop judging, you start seeing people differently; you start seeing life differently. You begin living your life the way you want to.
I would also remind myself to keep writing and reading every single day; to build the habit.
Do not stop showing up for yourself or for the people around you; people will disappoint you, they will make excuses, and they will disappear when you need them most. You cannot rely on that, and no one should.
You must rely on your instincts, your discipline, and your willingness to keep going anyway; but if they do show up, be grateful. Be grateful in every situation.
Stop being selfish; stop thinking only about yourself. Taking care of yourself matters, yes, but courage means carrying more than your own comfort. It means facing challenges without waiting for someone else to rescue you. That was one of the greatest lessons my father ever gave me.
He told me: work hard, the payoff will come. Maybe not those exact words, but that was the lesson; and he was right.
Through COVID, through career uncertainty, through mental health struggles, through rebuilding myself physically and mentally, I learned that hard work rarely gives instant gratification. But it does transform you; that is the reward.
Life is not meant to be spent chasing money or status or expensive distractions. I know my younger self thought that way. I used to think money was the destination. Now I know better…
Money matters, yes, but meaningful work matters more. Waking up and knowing you are doing something important, something that contributes, something that aligns with your values; that is wealth. This changed everything for me.
Because when life got hard, and it did, I needed more than money. I needed purpose; I needed something worth staying for; I needed to learn that I could walk away from the things destroying me. That I did not have to stay attached to negativity, toxic people, destructive thoughts, or emotional chaos.
You can walk away…
You can sit in the driver’s seat of your own life; you do not have to let your emotions control the road. I wish I understood that sooner, but maybe the truth is this: life teaches us through mistakes. That is part of it.
Do not hate yourself for the hard seasons; reflect on them instead. Learn from them. Remember the moments when you thought you would not make it; and yet, somehow, you did.
Remember the people who hurt you; remember the people who stayed; remember that breaking up with someone is not the end of the world, even if it feels like it; remember that asking for help is not weakness; remember that your parents are getting older; your grandparents too.
Put the phone down and talk to them; be present with them. Because one day, those moments will be the things you miss the most.
Fifty letters in, I can say this with certainty: I am grateful.
Grateful for the consistency; grateful for the reflection; grateful that I kept going. Fifty weeks of writing is not something I take lightly. These letters are little windows into my mind as I move through life; and I want to keep writing them for as long as I can.
Because compound interest is one of the greatest truths in human history. The small things matter. The repeated things matter. The habits become the life. That is something worth telling your younger self: be free and write, read and walk, do the hard thing, make the jump, do the thing that keeps you humble.
Whatever gives your life purpose, attack it with everything you have; stay consistent.
Remember: we are not racing anyone.
We are simply living. Trying to give the best version of ourselves so others can thrive too; because when others thrive, we thrive.
The Stoics called this sympatheia: the understanding that we are all connected.
So be gentle with yourself; slow down, but do not stop. Work hard for the sake of humanity, for the sake of your own soul, for the sake of the life you are building. Legacy is not something you chase. It is something you create by living meaningfully.
And if I could leave my younger self with one final sentence, it would simply be this:
Do not give up.
There are people around you who care. If you wake up tomorrow, attack the day with readiness. Your progress depends on it.
This post is part of my "Letters to Myself" series — a weekly free-write blog where I explore personal growth, curiosity, and healing through simple prompts. Sometimes reflective, sometimes fun, but always real. Thank you for being here.
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Photo by Kyle Gare
