Dear Reader,
I may not know exactly what you’re going through at this moment. I may not even know who you are. But I do know one thing – everyone can use a bit of encouragement. Not just once in a while. You can use encouragement every day.
I want you to think about your biggest success this past week. I want you to think of all the hard work you put into earning that success. Whether or not you received help along the way does not matter because you accomplished something you were striving for. You did it and you can do it whenever you set your mind to it. You just have to believe in yourself.
I want you to think about all your strengths. There are many, I’m sure. You know why I’m sure? I’m sure that you have many strengths because each one of us has our specialties. We balance each other out. We were born to be unique, not to be perfect. So instead of giving yourself a hard time the next time one of your weaknesses shows, think about all you’ve got going for you. You are the best version of yourself. Nobody can be you. You’re a special human being, a strong human being, a talented human being.
I want you to think about all of the wonderful experiences your life has given you as well as the ones you’ve chased after. You’ve done amazing things over the course of your life so far and I’m sure there are amazing experiences yet to come. Imagine the places you’ll be able to go when you have a stable, full-time job and two weeks of vacation time. You’re going to give yourself experiences that pictures can’t fully capture because they’ll be so incredible that you won’t think to photograph every second. You can get yourself to that happy place.
I want you to think about all of the people in your life. Some have only been in your life for a year and others since you were born, but everyone who is a part of your life is there for you. They are there to support you and care for you. If you are feeling down, go to these people – they mean so much to you because they’re the people you can always go to.
I can tell you all of these things and encourage you to be the best you can be, but at the end of the day it’s your personal opinion of yourself that matters the most. Smile at least once today. Smile because you’re doing a fantastic job at being you. Smile because you have everything to live for. Smile to bring happiness to those around you and you will, in turn, be happy. Smile because people love you. Smile because you love yourself.
Love,
Maria
P.S. If you ever forget how much you’re loved, I’ll remind you.
