Dear J

Wash your hands after using the bathroom, before using the bathroom if you’ve been outside first, before dinner, after playing with any toys, instruments, or feeding your fish. Even if you’re about to take a bath, if you’ve just done

Dear Past MeJulia NusbaumJuly 29, 2022womens stories, dear past me, womenComment

Dear Oanh

Dear me from one year ago,

I regret to inform you that tomorrow will be one of the worst days of your life.

Tomorrow you will reset the password to log into your joint bank account. You asked him for the password many, many times. He always says, “Oh it’s on my phone… I don’t remember it…I will get it to you when I have time…I can’t do it right now.”

Dear Past MeSelena RaygozaJuly 26, 2022dear past me, womens stories, womenComment

Dear Rachel

There is no time for pleasantries, let’s get to it.

You will fight a good fight from a place of absolute terror. You will list improbable reasons why you might be the person for whom antidepressants just really aren't the solution. You will throw pseudoscience and bad journalism against a woman with twenty years’ experience and a prescription pad. And then you will give in.

Dear Past MeSelena RaygozaJuly 25, 2022dear past me, womens stories, women Comment

Dear Trish

Dear Trish,

It was so annoying how Marlee slid on her jeans, buttoned them easily, and pulled a cream-colored, cable-knit sweater over her head, ready to party. She didn’t wonder if the pants were too tight, if they made her look fat, if the shirt covered the soft rolls of her stomach.

Dear Past MeGuest UserJuly 30, 2021dear past me, mistake, Self esteem, love letter Comments

Dear Melina

Dear Melina,

I write this love-letter to you when I am old enough to be your grandmother, and when Grandma was my age. Time is a funny thing. It unspools before us and then folds in on itself to be carried forward into the memories of body and soul. You are eleven years old in this memory. You are a child on the cusp of womanhood, and I am a woman on the cusp of old age.

Dear Past MeGuest UserJuly 29, 2021dear past me, self love, Finding myself, Self esteem Comments

Dear Angel

At this time, your purpose is unclear. But eventually, it will be apparent why you are here on Earth. I know every day is routine – your forty-five-minute commute to your job, the mundane workday, the chaotic drive back home through traffic to smoke weed in your living room, then eat something and fall asleep.

Dear Past MeGuest UserJuly 28, 2021love letter, love yourself, love letters, dear past meComment

Dear Deb

Dear Teenage Deb,

Coming of age in the 1970s, you sometimes marvel at the inconceivable notion of one day living in the twenty-first century, of being forty-three (ancient!), when chimes clang and horns blare, welcoming a fresh numeral on humanity’s odometer. However, you also doubt the probability of living to the year 2000, since the Rapture is bound to occur at any moment.

Dear Past MeGuest UserJuly 27, 2021dear past me, religion, self care Comment

Dear Joanna

Dear Past Me,

Congratulations. You are flying high and holding on tight. From the perspective of those on the ground, it seems like you could be floating up there forever, gripping the strings of a colorful bunch of balloons, symbols of success in a society that requires outward markers. One of yours is filled with the confidence of a post-graduation job as a public defender, where you will save the lives of your clients and probably fix the entire criminal justice system while you’re at it.

Dear Past MeGuest UserJuly 26, 2021dear past me, mother, workingComment

Dear Lourdes

June 23, 1985

Dear Lourdes the Younger,

I’m sending you this love and care letter on your sixteenth birthday in the hope that it will save you from more pain and heartache. You don’t know it yet, but this summer will irrevocably change your life in ways you can’t imagine. You will fall in love, fight for love, and then, hide your love.

Dear Beth

Dear Past Me,

It’s been what seems like an eternity since I last thought of you. The memories of you terrify me to the point of disbelief. Perhaps, it’s because I’ve told myself it’s nonessential how our life started out, so why dwell on the past?

Dear Past MeJulia NusbaumAugust 3, 2018dear past me, childhood, abuse, love story Comment

Dear Alissa

Dear 2016 Alissa,

To be fair, I didn’t think you’d come this far. I had no idea you would do such stupid things with twenty-three guys. Here is the gold medal for being a slut, a very good one.

Dear Past MeJulia NusbaumAugust 2, 2018dear past me, Self esteem, Finding myself Comments

Dear Kim

June 10, 1993

Dear Girl:

I saw a version of you today. She’s about your age and looks a little like you except she’s skinny and you are a miserable pudge. I bet she’s been living the life you live although you have cut out all the drugs by now. That near arrest scared the fuck out of you so now you have winnowed all your bad habits down to getting drunk every day. This girl slammed her car, going forty, into another car because she was high.

Dear Past MeJulia NusbaumAugust 2, 2018addiction, Recovery, dear past meComment

Dear Holly

Dear Past Me,

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but those aren’t orgasms. You’ll learn this years down the road when you finally get your medication cocktail right, and discover you’re deserving of pleasure. You have a lot of learning to do, and you’ll get there eventually. Trust me, things will start to feel a lot better soon, and you won’t have to fake it anymore, even if, in your heart of hearts, you feel like it’s sincere.

Dear Past MeJulia NusbaumAugust 1, 2018Self esteem, dear past me, self loveComment

Dear Rebecca

Dear Past Self,

I wish I could’ve told you how much it hurts to have your tonsils removed.

Not as much as your cholesteatoma, chicken pox, shingles, or having an IUD inserted, but it would’ve been nice to be prepared to throw up blood constantly for two days.

Dear Past MeJulia NusbaumAugust 1, 2018Resiliency, mistake, dear past me Comment

Dear Lesley

Dear Past Me,

The one sitting by an incubator in the NICU. I see you- I am you. Today was hard. A doctor with a brash attitude blindsided you in a room full of people. She told you to pull the plug- to abandon hope because even if your sick child does manage to pull through- the burden will be too great. Her words- not yours, not mine.

Dear Past MeJulia NusbaumJuly 31, 2018miscarriage, death of a child, family, dear past meComment

Dear Karen

Dear Past Me,

It’s your first day of college sleeping under crisp new sheets in your bed in your dorm room. You’re listening to your roommates breathing softly in the dark, two complete strangers who have been randomly picked to become your best friends, the people whom you are to navigate through this scary change with. You’re questioning the first big decision your mom has not made for you: college.

Dear Past MeJulia NusbaumJuly 31, 2018dear past me, confidence, Finding myself, mother Comment

Dear Eleisha

Dear Past Me,

I’ve never written a Dear Past Me letter before. It never occurred to me. A Future Me letter makes more sense as I can store it away for you, me rather (Argh, confusing!) to read when you’re clearing out the cupboard, or that box under your desk where you put all the papers that have no proper place anywhere else in the house.

Dear Past MeJulia NusbaumJuly 30, 2018inequality, self love, Working women, dear past meComment

Dear Linda,

I know that sometimes things are rough. I know that people exploit your kindness, mistaking it for weakness; and that you do not find the love that you crave. I know that your intensity and passion make you hard to relate to especially to those who have forgotten the importance of being themselves and the significance of dreams.

Dear Past MeJulia NusbaumSeptember 29, 2017dear past me, story, feministComment

A Letter To My Younger Self: I Am Not The Woman You Expect

I am not the woman you expect. I am not the ideal, successful “career woman”; the brilliant, beautiful, ambitious young professional working in a corporate office. I am a recent college graduate; lost at sea, a sea of societal expectations and pressing decisions about the future. Perhaps I am not the woman you have dreamt I would be, but that does not negate the wealth of experiences that will mold you into the strong woman you will become. Your most difficult experiences and the lessons you will learn about life, love, and womanhood will lead to your greatest successes and reveal you to be far more resilient than you know.

Dear Past MeJulia NusbaumSeptember 29, 2017dear past me, story, feministComment