Standing on my Soap Box

A while ago I read a blog from Tyler Perry about him writing a letter to his younger self. I thought it was odd that he would do that. I was on Facebook a while ago, and found an OLD picture of me (I was 3 at the time the picture was taken) on a family member’s Facebook page. I started thinking about Tyler’s letter to himself, and wondered what I would say to my younger self on that picture. So here goes…

Good morning Sheila. I just found a picture of you today, and I have a few thoughts for you.

Firstly, wow, you had better get used to the way you look, because other than size, what you see is what you get. When you are in your teens you will be mistaken for being older, but as you get older though, you will look young for many years. I promise you, that is something you will like… eventually.

While I look at you in that picture, I look in your eyes, the one thing that stands out, is that you will have to be strong. Right now you are innocent of what is out there. Life will try to knock you down, on many occasions and in many different ways. You little girl need to be tough and independent! You also need to know where your strength comes from. A lot of people will think that you just “reached down, and pulled your boot straps up”, but really your strength comes from God alone. You need to learn early that he is your rock. He will carry you through. You need to learn that God loves you just like your Daddy does. Actually more than your Daddy does, and that is hard to beat.

With that said though, you also need to be soft, and you need to learn who you can be dependent upon. You will have children. Actually you will have three boys. They will challenge you, and they will give you love, just because you are their mom. Boys may not know how to handle a weepy mom, and they will pester you because you are “sappy”, but they will accept it as normal coming from you.

You also need to learn how to be feminine. This is something that I, as your older self, STILL need to work on. Thinking that “letting stuff come off slide off you like water off a ducks back” will help you survive when things are really rough. However you will have to eventually deal with things. It will be difficult. This is where your toughness comes from, and people will see you as standoffish. If you want people to see God in you, you need to be vulnerable on occasion.

So to wrap this up, because you know I could go on. Love yourself. Know that you are made special by Him, and for Him. You will have an amazing family in years to come.

Update: In case you were interested. My goals for the coming months include running (STILL). I have a half marathon (again) this time in the February, and I am planning on running the Manitoba full in June.