Personal growth isn’t called “work” for no reason. This is my casual letter to you, inviting you to let yourself be whatever you are before anything else. It’s not the easy way and it doesn’t always feel like a gift, but it’s a rewarding direction.

“A healer does not heal you. A healer is someone who holds space for you while you awaken your inner healer, so that you may heal yourself.” — Maryam Hasnaa

We need to struggle sometimes; it’s how we peel back the layers that don’t match our needs and dreams anymore.

What I Do (First) When I’m Struggling

Instead of answering, “I’m fine,” what if we replied, “I’m struggling.”

When I struggle and feel pretty depressed to even think about writing, these are a few things that I do instead:

• Let myself be fed up. Let myself just feel what I’m feeling and not be sorry about it… even if I’m not a fan of it.
• Meditate more.
• Listen to, watch, and read material from other people. I usually find something that feels like it was meant just for me.
• Write down how I’m feeling without holding back. There’s negativity, anger, frustration, fear, and bad grammar all over the place.
• Clean, either sweeping through my apartment with determined desperation or dragging my feet.

Personal Growth Is a Struggle Not Without Its Gifts

The gifts of personal growth are hard-won in my experience but well worth the struggles it takes to attain them. Growth is the gift.

Here are a few gems I’ve noted by allowing myself to be right where I am, in the middle of almost-unbearable discomfort and frustration, by bearing my brokenness until light peeks through the cracks again:

• I’m stronger than my depressed thoughts tell me I am.
• I’m more capable than my worried thoughts tell me I am.
• It’s okay to want different things than most of my friends or to be in another season of life (that means that not everyone will truly understand what I’m doing or why it’s a priority).
• A lot of people care, but I need to be the one who validates my efforts.
• I need to have moments of frustration to spark a real revolution in my heart; the struggle is a shedding process and a kind of spring cleaning.
• Things can get better.

Self-allowing is perhaps the greatest gift I’ve given myself.

. . .

Tell me:

Which of these thoughts did you need to read today?

Tell me in the comments. I read every single one, and I'd love to know!

I think you’re amazing just for being on this path.

With love,

Jen

P.S. Want to embrace this season and trust where you’re at? No matter what you’ve been through? Go visit my shop for prints of handwritten poems and other words of hope and heart. Pick your favorite. Feel... better.