Last year on January 1, I decided to write myself a letter that I would then seal and not open or read until the following January 1. I know this isn’t a new idea on the interwebs, but it was my first time doing it and I was really excited about it!
I kept the sealed letter (and the cute envelope it was in that I had decorated with a bunch of different stars and dots and such) in my desk all year, but I kept the promise to myself that I wouldn’t open it until 2020.
If you’ve been reading my blog for pretty much any length of time, you probably know I had a bit of a tumultuous year in 2019, as did a lot of other people I know. I experienced a lot of change in pretty much every single aspect of my life, but none of those huge things had happened back when I wrote this letter to myself.
I ended up reading the letter a few days after the first of the year this year, but hey, that’s life. Here’s the letter I wrote to myself on Jan. 1, 2019:
Jessica –
Another year has just begun. Like the last, it’ll be a year of revolution, challenges, celebrations and continuing to figure out who you are. I believe that you will find a great job at a place that values you more. You’ll expand your spirituality path and practice and perhaps start offering your special gifts to others. You’ll continue to read books and expand your mind. You will inspire yourself and others in ways you couldn’t imagine now.
Your relationship with Josh will flourish, but you’ll still go through challenges and obstacles. Always keep communicating. You’ll work on finding your own circle in this world. Maybe you’ll keep your Facebook group open. Maybe you’ll close it. Either way, you’ll find a way to change the world. You have so many amazing gifts and talents. Writing in a straight line isn’t one.
Anyway, I feel like this year will be magical for you. Even though sometimes you’ll be really stressed, worried and nervous, other times you’ll be joyous, thrilled and excited. I don’t know what this year will hold, but I know it’ll be one of exploration, learning, crying, laughing, dancing, healing, writing, inspiring and more. It will not be perfect, but it will be real.
Be brave. Be strong. Be yourself. And always keep going. You have so much to offer to the world. Believe in it. Flourish not despite your obstacles but because of them. Be exactly who you want to be. Believe that you deserve that because you do. You will always figure it out. Believe that too. You’re full of magic, the moon and the sun. See what you can do with that.
Love, Jessica
I wrote that letter a month before I was let go from a job that I dreaded going to every day; a few weeks before my husband’s aunt passed away; a few months before we moved into his late aunt’s house with his mother; and that’s just the start.
It was really interesting to revisit my mindset of who I was before all of these monumental things happened, so I decided to write this post about it to share my story and be more visible about my life.
I remember I was just kind of starting out in my spiritual journey in a bigger way, and I was very hesitant to call myself a witch. In fact, on the envelope I had written “New year, same witchy lady” because I was too scared or nervous to write “New year, same witch.” My how times have changed! I don’t necessarily think of myself as a witch, but I don’t shy away from that verbiage anymore.
I was a bit surprised to see that I was more right than wrong in my predictions for 2019. It really was a year of revolution, challenges, celebrations and continuing to figure out who I am. I’m sure 2020 will be similar in some of those ways, but they were especially and radically true for last year.
I indeed did start offering my special gifts to others, and now I’m honored to officially be in business for myself and be able to do tarot and oracle card readings for other people for a living. Like, what?! How cool is that?!?!
2019 really was a magical year for me, but not nearly in the way that I imagined it would be. I learned a lot, grew a lot and was challenged immensely, but I also learned so damn much about who I am (and who I’m not) that I could probably write several posts about exactly that.
2019 was a super hard year in many, many ways, but now I’m the happiest and most confident I’ve ever been. And that’s because of everything that happened last year, the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the trying, the wonderful and everything in between.
When I wrote this letter to myself last year, I had no idea how difficult the year was going to be, but I also didn’t know exactly how strong and resilient I was either. You can’t have one without the other, you know?
Looking at my life a year ago versus now is kind of like looking at two completely different people in many ways. I’ve changed and grown so incredibly much in the last year, even in just the last few months, and I’m really proud of who I am now.
No matter where you are right now, I’d highly recommend writing a letter to your future self. You could open in a week, month, year, decade, whatever works for you.
There’s something about reading your own words that’s super freaking powerful, especially when you’re in a different place in your life than when you originally wrote it.
After I read my 2019 letter, I wrote a letter for me to open on Jan. 1, 2021. I can’t remember exactly what I said in it, but I know I’m really stoked to see where I am in my life in 11 months-ish.
I don’t care if I’m in the exact same situation as I am right now or my life looks completely different again. I’ll just be really excited to look back and think about my progress and the good and bad and everything in between because all of it will affect me and where I am in my life.
Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash
