Dear self, Your goal in life Should not be to be the best at everything But to be the best version of yourself To be fully authentic And embrace your unique way of perceiving, being And showing up in the world To approve of yourself Before seeking the approval of others To impress yourself Rather than seeking to impress others And to build a life that feels good to you Rather than one that simply looks good to others. At one point in your life You learnt to hide and mask certain aspects of yourself In order to please others You learnt to suppress who you were Out of fear of being rejected or harshly judged And you felt boxed in and limited By particular traits you possessed And labels you were given Feeling that these dictated who you were And who you were allowed to become But now you have come to appreciate That your uniqueness Is a source of strength And that you are a multidimensional being Who is more than a single characteristic or trait that you possess And that others may try to define you Label you And categorise you But they will fail to capture the entire essence of who you are As who you are Is expansive, full of growth and potential And dynamic and continually unfolding And you may refuse to allow the world to define you And instead, choose to define yourself. Words by Tahlia Hunter Artwork by the very talented Loui Jover. |