[A disclaimer before you dive in: This letter was indeed supposed to go out yesterday, but turns out, I don’t know how to use technology, so just pretend it’s 2/2/22]
Hi there, you on the opposite side of this screen. It’s February 2nd, 2022, and I just quit my job. It’s only fitting that today’s angel number is 222 - a number that symbolizes “faith and harmony”, that “heralds a new era in your life and ushers in fresh possibilities”. Or so the internet tells me. Kismet. I like it.
Now, you might be wondering why you’re here. Or, more likely, you’re wondering why I am writing this or what (I think) I have to say. It’s quite simple really. My 25th year held more beauty and pain than any other. It led me down a path of profound self-exploration - one that resulted in as many tears as it did laughs, and with many more questions than answers. Ultimately, the past year gave me the conviction to quit my job and pursue a life in alignment with who I am at my core. This is my attempt to chronicle that journey - big moments, little moments, and everything in between. In doing so, I want to encourage others to take their own leaps of faith. Take it or leave it, read it or don’t.
I want to start by sharing 5 of the most important lessons I have learned in my first 26 years of life. I find that the best lessons are the most obvious ones, and also the easiest to forget. I’m sharing them for me, of course, but I am also sharing them in the hopes that I might make just one person think a little bit differently about how they approach tomorrow or spark a conversation.
Without further adieu, the lessons:
Confidence is a series of micro promises you make to yourself
The more you know, the less you know
You only experience one day at a time - life is too short to delay happiness
No one will put you first but you
When in doubt, fear is a mighty fine compass
I went back and forth on writing this list in first person (aka “I” statements vs. “you” statements). Ultimately, I believe these are truths that don’t just apply to me - so forgive the gross generalizations, and please don’t get offended. Let’s keep the ego out of this. With that, now also feels like a good time to explicitly state that this is a safe space. Growth and creativity require freedom to explore and challenge.
Below I’ve written 5-7 sentences to capture what each lesson means to me. In reality, these lessons can’t be deduced to sound clips or one-liners. Stick with me over the next weeks and months to see how these lessons manifest in my everyday.
Confidence is a series of micro promises you make to yourself
We’re told our whole lives how important confidence is (and I think that’s true). But it can sometimes feel like an illusive target - as if it’s either innate or untouchable. Simply put, confidence is belief in yourself. Right? What better way to build belief than by making and keeping promises to yourself? It’s as simple as writing the email when you say you will, or actually sleeping with your phone in the other room.
From the outside in, I can see how my routines might seem dogmatic and rigid. But I preach the importance of routine for a reason. Within 2 hours of waking every morning, I have kept at least 5 promises to myself. It feels good. It builds agency. It lets me start each day with a feeling of “I can”.
The more you know, the less you know
This one is simple. Everyday I become more comfortable with what I don’t know. The more I learn, the more my eyes are opened to how narrow my perspective is, to just how much I don’t know and probably never will.
I have come to believe that a marker of true intelligence is the ability to acknowledge what you don’t know and ask questions. It’s much easier to blindly believe than it is to acknowledge uncertainty. The more I know, the less I know. The less I know, the more curious and expansive my mindset becomes.
You only experience one day at a time
It’s easy to get lost in the cinematic version of life. In reality, though, we only experience one day at a time. We are never watching the whole movie (and we never will).
It’s terrifyingly easy to get stuck in a trap of living for the future. It’s so tempting to think that one day you will wake up when you have X, and you will finally be happy. In reality, one day, you will wake up when you have X, and it will just be another day, and at that point, you’ll be chasing Y. Chasing is no way to live. I want us all to to focus more on being where our feet are.
No one will put you first but you
I can be a broken record on this topic. I’ll deduce it to two questions: If you don’t love yourself, how can you expect anyone else to? If you don’t know yourself, how can you know what you want?
I believe putting yourself first is actually the very opposite of being selfish. It’s what will allow you to feel personally fulfilled so you can most positively and authentically affect the people and world around you.
When in doubt, fear is a mighty fine compass
I feel pretty confident saying that a comfortable life is an unfulfilling live. Where is the growth in always choosing the path of least resistance? That way of living feels directly in conflict with building confidence if you ask me (you didn’t, but oh well).
If something scares me, it tends to mean I am intrigued by it. It tends to mean I should look at it, analyze it, lean into it. I want to be someone who does something scary everyday - whether it be a big thing - like accepting an unproven job (check plus on that box this week), or a little thing - like posting a TikTok that will get 0 views but feels authentic to me (check plus plus here - I went viral if you didn’t catch it).
When in doubt, do the scary thing. That’s what I am doing by launching this newsletter. I invite you to do something scary with me.
Be patient with me as I figure out just what my little corner of the internet looks like. Missteps and fumbles are guaranteed, but I think we will have fun and learn from one another along the way.