Used to Be
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Editor’s Note: For the month of December, I’ll be sharing creative pieces weekly rather than my bi-weekly long-form non-fiction musings.
I recently did a writing exercise from The Artist’s Way where I wrote a letter to my present self as if I were 80 years old. Shiv at 80 was full of encouragement and praise: look how much you’ve done - you were a film maker, a storyteller, you started a beautiful family. You saw the world and lived a life of adventure.
The second part of this exercise was to write a separate letter to myself from when I was 8 years old. This one was far more emotional and filled with a notion of where did you go little Shivani? You once thought you were invincible. That any dream was yours for the taking.
I realized that versions of myself from both the past and the future have grand plans for me, but my present self feels stuck. So far removed from the wisdom of an aged Shivani, and perhaps even further removed from my childlike wonder.
How did I get here?
Shiv
Stories by Shiv is part of Wayfinder, a writer collective exploring questions that matter.