A Letter to My Younger Self

(for the girl I once was, and for the little ones who came before and after me)

Hello Everyone, How are you all doing?  Happy Thanks Giving. There are so many amazing things to be grateful for and one of them is YOU reading this message at this very moment.  Thank you from my heart to yours.  If it were not for you, I would not be doing what I do.  I hope this message lands in your heart in a reflective way to really honor who you are and how far you have come to get here and Be You.  You are incredibly special and unique.  All of your unique experiences you got to experience, have brought you right here now.

“You are the only You”  Treenz

My sweet one, I see you – barefoot in the grass, heart wide open, carrying light behind your eyes even when the world felt too heavy.  You were never too much, too sensitive, or too different.  You were simply born with the gift of feeling deeply – a gift that others could not always understand.

You tried so hard to earn love, to prove your worth by being good, strong or quiet, obeying.  But hear me now, love – you were already worthy.  You always were.  The love you were searching for was never gone; it was waiting within you all along, patiently calling you home.

I know how heavy it felt to carry pain that was not yours – the echoes of your lineage moving through your chest.  You thought something was wrong with you, but you were simply feeling the truth of generations.  The ancestors were whispering through your tears, asking you to bring the light back home.

One day you will understand that every ending was a sacred redirection.  Every heartbreak was a teacher.  Every silence was preparing you to hear your own voice – the voice that would guide you back to truth, to nature, to Spirit.

Iboga would one day call you – the great teacher of the forest – reminding you that your roots reach all the way to Africa, to the red soil where your soul remembers why it came.  You’ll see that healing isn’t about erasing pain, but transforming it into wisdom.  That forgiveness is freedom.  That love is a ceremony you perform daily – for your mother, for your daughter, for your sister and for yourself.

“Yung Pueblo encourages honoring younger versions of yourself by not trying to erase the past, but by instead acknowledging and healing old pain to integrate it into the present self.  Create a new relationship with your history, transforming how you react to difficult memories, and recognizing that your past does not have to define your future.”

You will stand beneath the same moon your ancestors one danced under, drumming, singing to the waters, your voice becoming prayer.  You will hold space for others to remember too – to awaken, to feel, to release.

Your tears will become holy water.  Your anger, sacred fire clearing the way for freedom.  Your softness, the medicine the world needs the most.

And one day, your daughter will look at you and see the woman who chose to heal instead of hide – a woman who turned pain into purpose, who remembered her way back home.  Through your courage, she will know that love can rebuild what fire tried to destroy.

So walk gently now, beloved.  You made it through.  You are home in yourself.  And the world is softer because you kept your heart open.

With eternal love,

Your Older Self – The One Who Returned

Thank you for reading and welcoming these words into your heart as we all have younger versions of ourselves that would have loved to hear this.  May these words fuel and propel you into loving and accepting every aspect of yourself.  Feeling all of your feelings without judgement.

Much love and gratitude for all of you.

Basse,

Treenz

Please donate to this beautiful farming community in Cameroon that was burnt down by a bush fire. If you are interested in purchasing authentic African Art, please let me know and I will pass along the details.  The Instagram account is @manjong_collections and he has more items available that are not on Instagram. This is to give back to the people in Africa, the caretakers of the sacred sacrament that we get to heal from.  Thank you so much, Basse

https://gofund.me/37a1be3d