Welcome to The Promise Letter
Hello sweet friend,
Happy Samhain/Feliz Dia de los Muertos. I hope this letter finds you well and in the midst of the dream life you have created thus far. I wish you more of that creative energy as you journey through the rest of your life.
I want to begin by saying Thank You. Thank you for taking time out of your busy life to enter mine. Thank you for deciding to journey into my mind and read my art. I hope this letter will be meaningful to you. I hope you may take some little pieces here and there of my letters and positively affect your own life. I hope my letters make you think, ponder and wonder. At the very least, I hope my letters provide some entertainment to break up the monotony of your daily life. Once again, from my heart to yours, I say thank you. Your support means everything to me, truly.
That being said,
Let us begin.
My very first letter. I’m writing this in the middle of a rare break from toddlerhood and puppyhood. It’s not very often these breaks come to me anymore between the tail/ear pulling, the nipping, and the mischief those two get into together. Stating the obvious, my life is chaotic (the amount of times I ask for strength in a day would astound you) and always in fast forward, but I wouldn’t trade my path even if I could.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about life. Which is ironic considering the holiday this first letter falls on. When thinking about life, it’s almost impossible to not think about death at the same time. We think of them as opposites, a polarity. But really they are a duality. You cannot have one without the other. They are two sides of the same coin. We think of death as the lack of life, but really it is a part of it. It’s a part of the path. It’s a transition we must all face at some point in our lives. There is a 100% mortality rate on this Earth.
We claim to fear death, but I think we also fear life.
I’ve been pondering the connection between life and fear. How so many of us, myself included, allow fear to stop us from living the life we want to live. We ignore the push within us to take the next step because of fear.
Failure.
Judgment.
Exile.
Discomfort.
The Unknown.
All of these things stop us from becoming who we were destined to be. Let’s face it, they’re scary as hell. We stay right where we are and travel the path we “should” because it’s comfortable. It’s safe. I’ve been traveling that path as well. That’s why I’m writing this letter. It’s something to break me off my current path.
I love my life. Please don’t mistake that last statement for anything other than love of life. I want to break off my current path because of my love for my life. I’ve been doing myself a disservice. See, I love my outer world. For as long as I can remember I always wanted to be a stay at home mom and my husband, so graciously, has given me that opportunity. It’s my main purpose in life. Before I became a mom, I felt lost. I was in the dark and had no idea where I wanted to be. I felt like there was no career that fit me. I no longer have those questions. Being a mom and focusing all my energy to raising the next generation of good people and building a safe and supportive home environment are what I’m supposed to do. By no means is every day sunny, but it's purposeful.
But see, it's my inner world where I need to step off the path. I still care about other people’s opinions more than I’d care to admit. I still find some validation in social media. If I said I didn’t care when a “like” popped up on a post and that it didn’t make me feel good, then I’d be lying. I want to change that. It's not that I'm looking to stop caring what other people think because right now, that feels impossible to do. I'm looking to not allow those fears to stop me from living my story the way I want to. I'm looking to not allow those fears to dim my light and extinguish the fire within my soul.
So I began thinking, what can I do to break the path? How can I change today? What action step can I do right now to start the change? I have always found comfort in writing (for those that knew me in high school, remember the raps? LOL) .
Am I any good at it? We’ll see, but it brings me joy so that's not my main concern. I’ll get better the more I write. I’ve also always found deep purpose in thinking about life and having deep conversations. Hence The Promise Letter. It’s a promise to myself and to the world to remember to live while I’m here. It’s a promise to hold myself accountable to stepping off the beaten path hoping that I may find some waterfalls and hobbit holes along the way.
Some letters may be me pondering a "philosophical" idea that I happened to come across. Other letters may be me simply processing my feelings about my current situation in life. I’m leaving the content within the letter open. Right now, it’s me writing down whatever comes to my mind and whatever feeds my soul.
I want it to be personal. I want it to be authentic.
I want it to strike a chord within me and within you so that we may be truly connected. So that we may collaborate and harmonize on the symphony of life as I write this and you read this. I hope my writing can do something for you as it does for me.
Our lives are short. We are not guaranteed the next hour. It takes one simple moment to have your entire world flipped upside down. Here is to living our lives the way we want to, loving the people in our lives as much as possible, and not taking a single breath for granted.
Memento Mori- Remember that you must die.
Here is to creating the life that makes you proud at the end of the day. Here is to your unique sacred name story. Only you know how it should go.
Don’t think about life.
Experience life.
Feel life.
Embody life.
I’ll be with you on the journey. Until next week.
Namaste,
Alissa
Current book(s) I’m reading:
Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
The Warrior of the Light by Paulo Coelho
3Q’s
Quote of the week:
“The belief that an individual can make a difference is the first step. The next is understanding that you can be that person.” Ryan Holiday
Questions I’ve asked myself:
What is an area in life you wish to improve?
What’s one action step you can take today to move towards that improvement?
How has fear stopped you from living the life you want?