Letter 8: Vision for the cocooned butterfly
Dear day-dreaming daughters 1 & 2,
The journey to self confidence always begins with finding out where you see yourself in the next 6 months - 5 years. Much of it is already decided for you as of today - like being a student, living in our home, and more.
But you get to write your own script when it comes to the simple things that matter in life. You get to choose how you see yourself feeling as a student, daughter, a friend and other roles you may want to play in the future. Like a veterinarian, teacher, scientist, doctor, engineer - whoever you want to be.
You need to ask yourself questions such as where will I be?; how i will feel?; who i will be with?; and what my life looks like personally, as a student and socially? There are a million templates out there that could help you do this. I recently used this resource to complete this activity - https://blog.zencare.co/best-possible-self/ as it helps bring together who I am as an individual, a part of a family, using my intellect fruitfully everyday.
I have said this before, and I will say it again today, what your inner self can give you in terms of confidence, no one else can. And the very first seed to plant in your mind for the self confidence to grow - is to visualize how you want to see yourself now (short term) and in future (long term). Here is how I completed this exercise on 4/30/2024:
I sat at my desk with no distractions, a cup of coffee on one side and a candle burning on the other side.
I set the time horizon for the exercise as 6 months for the first iteration. I will be doing another iteration for longer time horizon later.
I answered the following questions for myself:
Where will I be on 10/30/2024
How will I feel?
In regards to myself mentally - will I feel safe, confident, strong, joyful, optimistic? How will I feel physically?
What kind of activities will I be surrounding myself more with? For me this included questions about - Writing? Meeting like minded people for intellectually stimulating conversations? Will I continue to learn? Will I still be learning dance?
Who I will be with?
This not only informed my vision for my personal, professional and social life for the next 6 months, it also helped me write affirmations that I use daily to remind myself of my personal goals. The affirmations go something like -
“I am so happy and grateful now that I feel safe, confident and mentally strong. I am feeling joyful, optimistic about present and future, in all the roles I play. I am graceful, elegant, and brimming with positive light wherever I go.”
I have 8 statements starting with the same opening phrase - “I am so happy and grateful now that I…” that I am practicing to get in the habit of writing every.single.day. I bought a ‘One day at a time’ planner from this Etsy shop and it provides a nice shell for 8 aspects of your life that you can plan for. That is the shell that I use. It ranges from personal, career goals to spirituality & creativity, health and money goals as well.
It is just so important for us to always remember the power we have in being able to change our narrative - and positive affirmations, outlook, statements and vision make all the difference. So, my dreamy daughters, take your pen to paper and design your own life, your journey to continually building your self confidence.
Your visionary mother,
Jhumur