Creativity Check-In: 🌟 "Write A Letter To Your Younger Self"
How's Everyone Doing? Share Your Creative Project and Special Moment
Welcome
Hello! I’m Emily Lupita. I’m a travel writer & artist from rural Iowa currently living between Iowa City and Ankara, the capital of Turkiye. I’m also a book series founder & editor.
Creativity Check-Ins are where we come together to share how our creative projects are going, what we’re working on, and stories from our daily lives as creative people. I’ll also share an activity for some self-care & to get our creative energy flowing.
This is a feature on - Emily Lupita Explores - a creativity journal where I share explorations from my writing desk & art projects, plus illustrated stories of travel adventures with my two Autistic sons.
🌟 Check in by sharing your answers in the comments:
How’s it going?
What are you working on?
Share a special moment with us.
👩🏻🎨 I’ll go first…check out the comments for my update.
🌟 Activity for Self-Care
Write A Letter To Your Younger Self
Today’s creative self-care activity is to make our own “Write A Letter To Your Younger Self” sketch.
This technique seems like a writing exercise, but it’s actually a forgiveness exercise. We write this letter to our younger selves to encourage them but also to forgive ourselves for not being everything we needed for those younger selves.
Especially for those of us who experienced childhood trauma, this seemingly simple exercise can help facilitate deep healing and forgiveness that we weren’t able to save ourselves (or others) from that trauma.
We were children, and we didn’t have the knowledge or resources to provide everything our younger self needed. It wasn’t our responsibility to “save ourselves” in the first place, and realizing and accepting that fact can feel liberating. I know it did for me.
Let’s use this ⬆️ blank version of a letter on a table. Grab a few colored pencils, your watercolors, some markers, highlighters…whatever you have within easy reach. Or use your phone / tablet’s “mark up” to digitally color.
What type of writing utensil would you use? Do you have a favorite kind of pen, or would you choose a pencil, crayon, or marker?
What items are sitting on your table? Choose items that make you feel comfortable and safe. These items support you while you write your letter.
What would you say to your younger self? Try writing the first thing that comes to mind without too much overthinking. You can always go back and edit it later after you’ve had some time to process.💗
🎨 It doesn’t have to be anywhere close to perfect. Here’s my first sketch as an example.
🌟 How was the activity? Share your thoughts in the comments. 🌟
👩🏻💻 Social Media & 💌 Sharing
Connect with me…
My Instagram @EmilyLupitaExplores and
My Facebook page
American Bardic Poet - A poetry newsletter that I edit.
Check out my…
Current Art Projects
Artwork & Story Books on Amazon USA
Art Shop with Threadless
To help me reach out, please consider sharing this newsletter with someone you think may be interested. Refer a friend below. ⬇️
❤️🔥
HIG? Well, I’m pleasantly exhausted from 3 days of prepping and then making tamales for my family. This yr I made them mostly by myself as my kids were working. My fridge is full of green chile and cheese, pork in red chile sauce, strawberry and pineapple tamales.
WAIWO? I’m on a break after finishing another round of revisions for my 3rd YA novel. I’ll use the next 2 weeks to review for 2024 writing goal and make my 2025 ones. I also need to brainstorm ideas for my next writing project.
Special moment? Yesterday my mom (97 years old) spent the day with us watching Christmas movies she hadn’t seen before: Elf and The Christmas Story. Her laughter was wonderful to hear.
Happy Holidays to you & yours!
How’s It Going?
It’s the Christmas season, and I love spending time with my sons watching the Christmas tree lights before bedtime. I’ve been focusing on saving energy by retreating inward so I can devote more time and attention to the Brothers.
What Are You Working On?
I’m not working on anything creative this week. I’ve completely stopped painting for several weeks now - I have no idea why. It just feels right to pause. I was planning to end the year big with a flurry of creative activity, but instead, I’m taking time to sit, think, and journal when I have that free moment. It’s good.
Share A Special Moment With Us
Charlie made a cake from scratch. His class went to a baking studio, where they taught the kids how to bake a cake. This was such an exciting event for Charlie - he had his Autism aid with him to assist one-on-one, and together, they created a cool white cream cake with chocolate chips. He brought the cake home in a custom tote bag and showed it to me with such pride. We had a dance party to celebrate.