Dear Younger Me,
I’m so proud of the journey you are embarking on. You are going to learn so much about yourself and I hope this letter helps you stay the course during this special time. You will face challenges, but you’ll be fine. You will experience things that you won’t understand until you overcome them. You will become wiser and even more empathetic to others. The hardest challenges will become your greatest teachers and they’ll help you understand your purpose.
You are standing on the edge of this cliff surrounded by red rock, turquoise waters and one of the most beautiful waterfalls you’ve seen in your life! Your friends are diving in the water but you are frozen. You don’t recognize yourself. You don’t understand why you are paralyzed. You won’t jump off the cliff on this trip. You will realize that this is a reflection of how you’ve felt the last six months.
You notice from this experience that you need to get back to becoming the brave woman that you are. After so many months, you finally report the new CEO of the company to HR for sexual harassment. You could not let all these unexplainable symptoms which you now have learned are due to anxiety, continue to hurt you. Your health, emotional stability and well-being come first! So you finally take the first leap and report it despite the fact that he is above you and you are scared of the consequences. The woman who is the HR Director listens to you empathetically but then clearly says, “We won’t do anything about it, we cannot ruffle any feathers with the investors.”
And now you learn another lesson. This is the answer to all of the questions you had when you watched news stories about women not speaking up or reporting abuse. This is how it felt for those that did speak up and didn’t get justice. Those who got criticized even by other women. This is what anxiety feels like! Now you understand. You also understand that you are in control of your life, and you need to take the leap no matter how scary it feels.
You understand you need to make radical changes and get out of that toxic environment. So over a period of 3 months, you leave the company, move to a new city, g from being a VP of Marketing for a corporation to becoming an entrepreneur and starting your own consulting agency.
You are very passionate about helping women and realize there is still a lot of work to be done. You and your mom start an international female empowerment movement. Soon enough you have an amazing team and before you know it, the community is growing a lot faster than you thought possible. The empowerment events get sold out every time and women are asking for more. You realize that what was once a challenge is what launched you into your purpose.
On your next vacation, go to Mexican Cenotes and now you jump off the cliff. Your brave self is back! You realize this is just the beginning of another amazing adventure and that you’ll be just fine!
I am proud of you! Love, Jessie
Jessie Medina, founder and CEO @femlatinas + @femgency is a social entrepreneur, motivational speaker, brand consultant and bilingual podcast host @heartyovarios. She is the founder of the global female empowerment movement @FEMLatinas. She also consults with corporations on inclusion and equality, social media strategy, leadership and branding. Learn more about her at @jessiemedinaofficial and jessiemedina.com.
