Letters to Myself

Good evening @MDT

I commend you on your decision to write letters to yourself as part of therapy and helping yourself and others. Well done forumite friend👍🏻⭐️! I hope you’ll find it beneficial and rewarding and I look forward to reading your letters when you choose to post them.

In my psychologist appointment yesterday - Saturday- my psychologist wanted me to write myself a letter about my meds issue and look back in the letter I wrote myself at our very first appointment back in July last year. He wants me to be kind to myself and stop being so harsh and critical of myself as it’s not good for my mental health overall. I’m planning on writing a letter to my psych meds explaining my issues of them and just getting things out of my head so I can try and explore the real issues with my psychologist. He’s a great guy and knows I’m often better at communicating in written form rather than spoken on the phone whereby I tend to let my emotions get in the way and get sidetracked by the conversation. Believe me when I say my written communication skills came in handy last August and September when I had my psychotic episode and subsequent admission to hospital as he got an insiders knowledge into psychosis which he actually thanked me for.

Enough of me and my issues! Sorry! This is a great thing you are choosing to do and I thank you for being open about why you want to do this here in forumland. That’s very brave of you and I admire and respect you for doing this. Making decisions can be hard and sometimes having other people give advice on the decisions is very worthwhile as they often have different ideas and perspectives which you may not have thought about. I hope this helps you with what you’ve got going on in your life.

Take care forumite friend!

Judi9877☺️🍀

I have been writing letters to myself for years....no one else in my life to either write letters to, or receive letters from. Sad.

Dear Hams

You are in a season of change. This is not unusual to you I know.

For some time now you have set yourself a goal and I daresay that you have fulfilled it and some more too.

What you feel at this time is apprehension about making a big choice. But I am wondering if it is really a "big" choice at all. You know full well that where you are at in life is not where you want to be going forward. Instead of treating yourself with harshness perhaps now would be a good time to practice some self compassion.

My friend you have come far. Indeed, only this time 12 months ago you were in a very different place. 24 months ago you were in a different place to that, let alone now. 3 years ago - the 25th of Jan 2019 was different again. I did some research and found out that this very day 3 years ago you were on the cusp of an adventure overseas - after having had a mere taste of adventure in the months prior - which you subsequently called off. I know you don't regret this, but you do have a tinge of regret - particularly after the pandemic hit and neutralised these options for 2 years.

Perhaps it is bold of me to assume this, but I do believe that the 2 years in between your "nearly adventure" and where you are at now could not have been spent better than you spent them. You set your goals and worked towards them. They were attainable and worthwhile - get experience. You did this.

Now, you find yourself in a totally different position to what you had imagined initially.

You were honest enough to say to 2 people in the past week that the pandemic made you regret not taking opportunities before the pandemic hit. So be it my friend. You need not beat yourself up. You need not hate yourself.

But I do believe what you need to do is take these chance now while you can afford to.

There is a lot to be said for safety and security in work. But there is a great deal more to be said for not taking chances when they are before you. There is something to be said for taking responsibility and doing your part. But there is more to be said for doing that through finding something you care about. Injecting more bitterness and resent into your life, the lives of those around you and indeed the entire world is something you will live to regret in the long run. You've seen that in others.

As I said - the decision is not "big". It's a clear one. You have capacity, intelligence and ability beyond what you are providing the world. Work towards that and act upon it. You can write, you can speak, you can research, you know about computers and curious about that evermore, you know how to engage with people, you know how to look for finer detail. But you also know what it is to feel raw emotion. You know what it is to feel inspiration, terror, excitement, nerves and the like. You have and are truly living.

Give yourself this one opportunity and I swear to you - you will KNOW what to do based on your experience in life and your instinct. Grasp the thing in front of you and ignore that comfort zone.

I'll leave you with a commercial I know you've found helpful.

Triumph comes about because we choose to pursue it - It is inevitable.

You are not seeking to create something completely new or you are not seeking

You once said you thought the world would be better off without you - but I'd contest that. You felt that you'd be better off not being here because you were not at where you could be. A minor difference, but an important one.

You know what you need to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5bKQwbK_1k

Go @MDT !

Well written and I hope you take yourself on board 🙂

Well done @MDT . That’s a great letter. Very well written and nicely put. I really like how you spoke to yourself as a friend and a very supportive friend as well. This is something I know I need to take on board when talking to myself as I’m my own worst enemy. I seem to be my own harshest critic at seeing the bad things in my life and not recognising my good qualities which people admire in me, namely being my ability to knit for others and stand up for the people I care about.

Take care and good luck with your future, forumite friend.

Judi9877☺️🍀