Letter To Emotional Maturity
“After some time …
You will learn the difference between helping out and helping a soul. You will learn that loving does not mean leaning on someone and that company is not always synonymous with safety. You will learn that kisses are neither contracts, nor gifts, nor promises.
You will accept your failures with your head held high and looking straight ahead, with the grace of a child and not the sadness of an adult. You will learn to build all your paths today, because tomorrow’s terrain is uncertain for your projects and the future has a bad habit of getting lost in the void.
After some time …
You will learn that the sun is hot if you expose yourself too much. You will accept that even good people can hurt you sometimes and that you will need to forgive them.
You will learn that speaking can ease the suffering of the soul. You will find that creating a relationship based on trust takes years, while destroying it takes seconds. You will find that you too can do things that you can regret for the rest of your life.
You will learn that new friendships grow despite the distance. That the things you have in life are not important, but the people around you are not important. You will learn that good friends are the family we are allowed to choose.
You will learn that we don’t have to change friends if we are willing to accept that friends change. You will find that you can have a great time with your best friend without doing anything special, you will learn to enjoy his simple company.
You will find that, often, you neglect the people who are dearest to you ; this is why we always have to tell that person that we love them, because we will never be sure when will be the last time we will see them.
With the passing years …
You will learn that circumstances and the environment around you affect you, but also that you are solely responsible for the things you do.
You will learn that you do not have to compare yourself to others, except to imitate them to improve . You will find that it takes a long time to get to be the person you want to be and that time flies.
You will learn that it doesn’t matter where you are, but where you are headed and, if you don’t know yet, any destination is fine. You will learn that if you do not control your actions, they will control you and that being flexible does not mean being weak or devoid of personality; however fragile and delicate a situation is, there are more and more answers to it.
With the passing years …
You will learn that the real heroes are the people who did what was necessary and dealt with the consequences.
You will learn that patience takes a lot of training. You will find that sometimes the people you thought were the ones who scold you after a fall are the first to help you get up. You will understand that maturity depends on experience and not on the number of years lived.
You will learn that there is a lot of your parents in you, more than you think . You will learn that you should never tell a child that their dreams are nonsense, because it is among the most humiliating things in life. And if he were to believe it, it would be a tragedy, because it would mean that you took away his hope.
You will learn that, when you are angry, you have every right to be angry, but that does not justify your cruelty.
You will understand that just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want, it doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all of themselves, because there are people who love but don’t know how to prove it. You will learn that it is not always enough to be forgiven by someone – you need to learn to forgive yourself.
You will learn that you will be judged (and eventually condemned) with the same severity with which you judge. You will learn that no matter how many pieces your heart is broken, the world will not stop waiting for you to fix it.
You will learn that time does not go back, so you need to cultivate your garden and decorate your soul, instead of waiting for someone to hand you flowers.
Only then, will you really know what you are capable of enduring , will you know that you are strong and that you can go much further than you thought, even if you believed that you would never get there. Life is truly valuable when you find the courage to face it. “
Unknown author
It doesn’t really matter who the author of this letter is, no one knows whether it is Borges, Shakespeare or Benedetti. However, what really matters is the message, what it teaches us and what it reflects about life.
I like to think that this is a letter that life sends to everyone over time. In it, our experiences write the lessons needed to judge our history wisely and proudly.
It is a letter full of sincere emotions, suffered teachings and words free to be interpreted. We all know we made the mistakes listed above, but have we thought about it?
This is an invitation to do so, because now is the right time. Yesterday is already part of history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is our greatest gift. It is time to free our shoulders of all the emotional burden, it is time to live in the present.
Main image courtesy of Shawna Erback Studios
