A love letter to myself

This fortnight, one of the prompts on our Write Bravely group was to write a love letter to ourselves. “Easy Peasy,” I thought. After all how hard could it be, right? Wrong! It took me the whole of two days to even come up with a somewhat okay draft of what I really wanted to say and even now, I am not sure I have managed to tell myself how much I really love me!

Dear Sunita,

Today is Valentine’s Day, and there may be no card with your name on it, no flowers at the door, no one planning something special just for you.

But so what?

You are enough. And that is why I love you.

You are one of the most beautiful people — inside and out. You love from the bottom of your heart. You love without calculation. You simply give.

I love you for your kindness, your compassion, the way you reach out and feel deeply for others. I know that sometimes this tenderness has hurt you. Sometimes people have not handled your heart with care.

But I am proud of you.

You have learned to set boundaries. You have learned that loving does not mean losing yourself. You now know how to keep some people at arm’s length, while allowing those who truly cherish you to come close.

You have grown. You have grown so much.

And though you are sixty-one, you are still growing. We are still growing — together. That is what I love most about us.

It is difficult to put into words, but you never give up. You never give up learning. You never give up trying to do better, to become better. Every day, in small ways, you try to improve your relationships, your work, your little corner of the world.

That matters.

You are worth love. You are worth tenderness. You are worth celebration.

Never, ever believe that you are not enough. And never believe that no one loves you.

Because I do.

And I always will.

Loads of love,

Sunita