A Love Poem to My Younger Self

There’s a power in nurturing our inner child, in offering them the love and understanding they never received. We often carry our younger selves with us, and sometimes, they need to hear that they weren’t defined by their pain. Writing a love poem to my younger self was a way to acknowledge her strength, to remind her that she was always more than the struggles she faced. Here’s the poem I wrote for her:

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The Poem Itself

I wrote my younger self a love poem
and pressed it into the soil of her ribs
where everything she buried still waits for rain

i told her—
you are not the drought that cracked their tongues
nor the silence that curled itself around your name
you are the river they could not hold
wild and stretching beyond their reach

i reminded her—
the ghosts she carries are not her own
that love is not a locked door she must beg to enter
that she is both the thunder and the quiet after rain

i wrote my younger self a love poem
so she would know she was never the wilted thing
but the seed learning to break open
to become something unstoppable

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Reflection/Analysis

This poem is a love letter to the self that I once was—fragile, scared, uncertain, and drowning in the things others thought I was. It’s a reminder that we are not the sum of the hurt we endure, nor are we the voices of the past that tell us we’re not enough. My younger self needed to hear that she wasn’t the silence of neglect, the emptiness and violence others tried to project onto her. Instead, she was—and still is—a force of nature, capable of growing into something beautiful, something unstoppable.

It’s an invitation for all of us to speak to our younger selves with the love and care we deserved. To rewrite the stories we’ve been told and help ourselves become who we were always meant to be.

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Write It Out

Take a moment to write a love poem to your younger self. What would you remind them of—their strength, their worth, the beauty they carry within them? Press your words into the soil of your ribs and let them grow. When you’re ready, share your thoughts below or in your journal.

With every word, we heal a little more. Keep nurturing that love within—because you are unstoppable. Until next time, stay growing.

Thank you for reading

Debra 💛

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