Advice to Myself (you can take it too, if it resonates)

Going on a trip.  Seeing beautiful people and going to a poetry workshop.  Sometimes being in a new place makes me nervous, sometimes being around people who are more accomplished than I am makes me forget my gratitude for all the beauty I have, sometimes my fears keep me rooted in a spot–literally and creatively.  In a writing group on Tuesday, we wrote letters to ourselves.  This was mine, in the form of a list, after the jump.

1. Be brave.  Do the things you are afraid to do.  Do them alone.

2. Listen.  You already know everything about yourself.  You don’t need to hear it again.

3. Be patient.  Do not dismiss anyone for a single act of unkindness (or stupidity).  Remember how little you know about where they come from.  Remember that nothing anyone else does is actually about you.

4. Be cautious.  Not everyone has your best interests at heart.  This is not paranoia.  It is a fact.

5. Be kind.  It is through kindness that you will begin to scrub away at the surfaces of people and reveal how much they are all the same, how much they are all like you.

6. Be grateful.  Do not take a single smile for granted.  No one owes you anything.

7. Be grateful.  There are many other lives you could be living.  There have been many opportunities for the one you are living to end.

8. Be grateful.  For each day that your feet are sore and your hands are caked in paint and your heart is heavy with stories. When a day leaves its mark on you, you’ve spent it wisely.