Little Andrea,
It’s ok to wear cardigans and use words like “enamored.”
Someday you’ll miss roller skating in your cement basement & shaking the backyard apple blossoms with your brother.
The teddy bear comforter that matched the one on Full House will feel like a foreign object from another life.
You’ll grow out of that tired old voice that never liked your round face or flat feet.
After a while you realize you just don’t have time to dislike yourself so much.
When you understand how to hold yourself in high esteem, it will come back to you.
Learning to cherish & nurture yourself is the secret to growing an abundance of healthy love you can freely give away.
For goodness sakes, get some sleep. Eat nicely.
Give yourself a good portion of the grace you give to others.
Respect yourself enough to know when to humbly make changes.
Cling to the truth that life is a lovely thing.
When the world offers a bitter cup, do not drink from it.
Hearts are meant to be strong, but they don’t need to be hard.
Accepting the risk of a vulnerable soul will cultivate poise.
Forgive often.
Never let anyone else make up your mind for you.
They may hover around the fringe of your life,
but the living of it is yours.
Not theirs.
Ask for wisdom but trust yourself.
Chasing gorgeous light & breathtaking sunsets will never cease to thrill us.
Thunderstorms will always make us uneasy.
Those bangs will always give us trouble.
You’ll discover that pink isn’t such a bad color after all.
I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing who you are, what has happened since then, and who we are now.
I’d like to think that at this point we’ve made peace.
Secret handshake & high fives, it’s for real.
-29 year old Andrea
ps: I want your swimsuit. ♥
Inspiration for this post:
We are celebrating Valentine’s Day by writing love letters to our little selves. This idea stems from one of my favorite quotes by Kris Carr, “Picture yourself when you were five. in fact, dig out a photo of little you at that time and tape it to your mirror. How would you treat her, love her, feed her? How would you nurture her if you were the mother of little you? I bet you would protect her fiercely while giving her space to spread her itty-bitty wings. she’d get naps, healthy food, imagination time, and adventures into the wild. If playground bullies hurt her feelings, you’d hug her tears away and give her perspective. When tantrums or meltdowns turned her into a poltergeist, you’d demand a loving time-out in the naughty chair. From this day forward I want you to extend that same compassion to your adult self.†This Valentine’s Day, take time to write little you a love letter. What are three things you would tell yourself? Show yourself some fierce love this month. ♥
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@AndreaDozier
your website is inspiring i looked at it firstly because my husband is away for four weeks and my four children just got foot and mouth all at the same time and i was looking for remedies to soother their blisters we just moved to thailand for my health i have had 12 operations on aistralia in the last 4 years to no avail and for some reason found that i didnt need nearly as much morphine to cope whilst here your blog has made me homesick you website the look of it reminded me of all the time i tiik to make my home have the same feel your site does i miss all those pretty little things and life since we got here has been so stressful i miss my focus being on capturing but most importantly making the memories you document maybe i will make a site to record this journey of ours not very good at compuiter things but i will try please feel free to contact me back it is a bit lonely over here and for me style and function of things is what makes life that more precious but there isnt much of that in thailand i even had a shop in aistralia full of handmade things for everywhere in your house to just add some wonder i would love to hear from you if you have time
Awww….i’ve been trying to tell you this for a while (loving yourself, that is)! i needed this today….and thanks for letting me know about the free books!! i lost my charger, though…but as soon as i find it, i will start reading it 🙂
I love this. It’s amazing how much we grow after we have children and realize that our childhood is truly over. Bittersweet but you definitely made it sweet in your post!
Emma, wow thank you! I’m so glad you feel that way about coming “here,” but I’m so sorry you’ve had your hands really full lately! I hope they recover soon! You should definitely try to capture some memories, because clearly they are unique! It is hard to balance enjoying the moment with children & sharing it. I’m constantly trying to get better at it! Thanks so much for letting me know you were here & saying hi! Hope you are getting settled & feeling at home soon!
Jaclyn, glad it was encouraging for you! Love her books, I’ll be sad to finish them all {including other works of fiction}!
Katie, thank you! I completely agree about pondering these things after we have children and realize they are not babies anymore than we are! Believe me, I could write a book about the bitter parts. It was honestly hard to refrain from nit picking & releasing everything I regret. But that’s not really very productive & I really do try to see life for what it is… then take the good from it. Otherwise I wouldn’t have even got over the frustration of having flat feet. Ha.