I think once you start writing, you start thinking differently. Since beginning this project, I’ve felt called to say the unsaid things, send the unsent messages, and be honest with myself and others. If nothing else, that feels like a win. This isn’t a get‑rich‑quick endeavor — my currency is self‑growth, after all.
I want to be clear with you, lovely reader(s): my only plan is to follow this structure of 12 tweaks in 12 weeks, a rhythm I hope will keep me motivated and maybe inspire others to join me. What I’ll learn, do, say, create, or release is still an unwritten journal entry.
What I can say is this: yesterday, mid‑journaling, I felt brave. I saw growth in real time. That’s my hope for this process — to become a more mindful, more proactive, more courageous version of myself. A version I’m proud of, healed enough to begin again.
Right now the water is muddy, but I know this is the moment I’ll look back on when things clear — the moment I admitted life felt wild, remembered I’m powerful (af), and chose to shake the foundation and move forward.
My advice, although no one asked for it, is to draft a list of your strengths and weaknesses. Some of them will feel true, and some of them might only seem true. The thing about personality traits, perceptions, and behaviors is that they’re malleable. You are powerful and in control of more than you realize, and the most limiting thing you can do is absorb a flimsy concept as a fixed truth or an unchanging part of who you are.
You are not your quickness to anger, your fears, or your lack of bravery. You’re a compilation of pencil drawings collected over time — a portfolio in a three‑ring binder, always open to revision, refinement, and new pages.
An important addition: although I won’t speak to deep trauma in this post, I might eventually. As someone who has lived through my own, I understand that some parts of you — the hardware of the three‑ring binder — are simply yours. For those pieces, the only thing I can recommend is learning to love them, because they’re part of your forever. They’re yours to nurture. They might even be a window, a door, a screen, or a concrete wall that every other part of you presses up against.
For the purposes of this exercise, I recommend drafting your list of strengths and weaknesses in a stream of consciousness. Seeing your strengths on the page might inspire you, and seeing your weaknesses in writing will give you a clear place to begin your growth. The editing of that list will require more thoughtful techniques, but for today: 1… 2… write.
