My Sweet Inner Child

My sweet inner child,

I love you and will take care of you by being kinder to myself. I will refrain from making negative comments about my appearance or my intellectual capacity.

Keep writing, little girl. Just write and write and write. One day you will return to what you wrote, you might cringe at the grammatical mistakes that mar the page and the characters that all seem to resemble one another. However, when you become a published author you’ll return to those wrinkled pages and realize that past you set the foundation for the future. (I said when you become a published author, not if).

I know you thirst for representation in literature, for stories and voices that resemble your own. I have a few recommendations for you: Sandra Cisneros, Cherríe Moraga, Norma Alarcón, Isabel Allende, and Ana Castillo. All of them are Latinx authors, many of them Chicanas like you. I know you feel alone, a loneliness that seems all-encompassing. At the moment, you believe that you must fill this loneliness like a cavity by finding ‘the one.’ One day you will become disillusioned with the idea of soulmates and true love, but your platonic relationships will sustain you. Never underestimate the importance of platonic relationships.

I care about you,

Your Future Self