karen: A Letter to your 20 something self
ByThis past spring I had the pleasure of meeting Karen at Mom 2.0. I have always been inspired by the way that Karen can take the simpleness of everyday life and turn it into something amazing.There is such a softness about Karen. She is so sure of who she is and you can see her love for life shining through her in the way that she speaks and in the way that she writes. She is that person you want to tell all of your secrets too and become best friends with.
I was overly excited and fanning my face thrilled when Karen sent me over her letter to share with you.
Dear 20-year-old Me –
Bless your heart. You are just so serious, so caught up in yourself, aren’t you? You mean so well, and you’ve got a good heart. I’m resisting the urge to tell you to lighten up, to stop taking yourself so seriously, to stop doing what you think everyone expects you to do and follow your bliss, because the truth is, your journey to realizing all these things is a pretty great one. Still, there are a couple of things I can’t help but tell you:
1. That boy you’re going to marry in a year? He’s not the one. You’re only marrying him because he was the first one to be nice to you. That’s okay, though — you’ll part amicably. Afterwards, you’ll still end up dating other guys just because they were nice to you, but the good news is that after you date that one really damaged one (HOO, girl, is he damaged!), you’ll figure it all out. And once you do, you’re gonna LOVE who you’ll marry in the end.
2. You’re eventually going to figure out you have a natural curiosity. Go with it.
3. You know that suspicion that you have that when the time comes, you should adopt? You have noidea how right you are. You’re also right that your child will be a daughter. You’re also right that she will be absolutely splendid.
4. You’re creative. Really. No matter what people keep telling you.
5. I know you hate exercise, but really, you need to exercise. Because 20 years from now? That gift of a metabolism that you have is going to turn on you like an ingrown toenail.
That’s pretty much it, friend. Hang in there. You’re beautiful. You just need to figure it out. And ultimately, you’re going to do just fine.
With Love,
42-year-old Me
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Tears. Love this.
Steph
The first paragraph is exactly what I would write to myself (except not in such a beautiful eloquent way ), thanks for that :)
sooo awesome. thinking of writing one myself.
Just love Karen. Have such a blogger crush on her.
I linked in from Chookoloonks. The thought of writing a letter to my 20 something year old self was very intriguing. Before I read the above, my thoughts about what I would write were so much more harsh. Karen was so much kinder on her younger self than I ever would have thought of being. This came at a wonderful time for me. Thank you both.
How great was this?! I loved it.
Well said, my dear…. And you turned out great….
Love ya, kidoh!
Dad
Thank you for writing this. Almost all of this is what my life is right now. This helps. Thank you thank you thank you.
[...] Karen’s letter posted, roughly a month ago, I’ve been noodling on the idea, and this is what I’ve come [...]
So helpful. Thank you.
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Im 22 and you don’t know what this means to me. I can relate in every way and I prey it all happens for me too. Thank you for this, it gives me hope. <3