Daily Prompt – February 23, 2026

I’m going to be vulnerable in this response. It’s the most authentic way I know how to respond to this prompt. I did work in therapy not quite 2 years ago that involved writing letters to my younger self at different ages. This was very healing work. Now it’s not always what you might consider advice in the way it’s written but the lessons are there if you look hard enough.

Dear Me,

I’ll be honest, I’ve been putting off writing this because I feel like I let you down the most. I know much you wanted to scream and fight back and argue every time mom or dad told you something that was utter BS. I know you wanted to dad out on the disrespectful way he spoke about women and handled you. I know you wanted to argue with mom every time she came down on you unreasonably hard. I’m sorry I forced you to filter all that. I never should have. I know that now. Little us was so sure we would lose mom and dad if we did what you wanted and truth is we can’t lose what we never had. I am working on nurturing her and helping her to realize she doesn’t need mom and dad to be joyous. At the same time, I felt it important to acknowledge how right you were. I am learning lessons you knew over 30 years ago too late but I want you to know that I did hear you. I did believe you. I was just scared. It was so hard being bombarded by mom’s criticism and doubts as well as dad’s judgment and neediness. Not to mention being caught in the middle of their war. Sometimes, I think we could have acted the way you wanted and they never would have noticed. They were both so caught up in their own crap. Sadly, we probably would have gotten more attention your way. Not necessarily the attention we wanted but attention.

I know you tried hard to make life easier for little us. To find friends but we always ran into the same problem of giving more than we got. Repeating the same cycle that we get from mom and dad. Doing anything for someone’s attention was never the answer. People will love us for use or they can fuck off. I should have reinforced that for you. We could have saved ourselves so much heartache. I promise to listen to you more if you can promise to listen when I say a romantic situation is bad.

Apologetically,

Me

Typing that out and rereading it is a powerful reminder of the work I have done and how far I have come.