Treatise to Myself

I recently was going through some boxes of school stuff over winter break and came across a pleasant surprise: a dogeared piece of notebook paper, haphazardly slipped between copies of rough draft essays and class notes. The minute I saw the heading, and scrawled handwriting, a small smile broke, and I began to read this letter to myself that I had forgotten.

The Bistro!

I wrote this list to myself a year ago in the Bistro in the midst of a huge life transition. I found myself stewing and stressing, feeling incredibly overwhelmed, miserable, and frustrated with being yanked back into the Willamette bubble. I was unsure about the future, missing the past, and apathetic about the present. Then, in a sweeping impulse, I decided that I had had enough. It was time to make a change. I call it my personal treatise, and I return to it now a year later, I think a healthier, wiser, happier human being. Here it goes:

Treatise to Myself

1. I can do anything
2. I can choose what is best for me
3. I can recognize my limitations
4. I can recognize my needs, and demand that I respect them
5. I have the right to be happy
6. I have the right to express myself
7. I have an obligation to do what feels right and just, rather than what is asked or expected 
8. I will always follow my gut/instinct
9. I will always treat people how I wish to be treated
10. I will not be burdened by the ambiguity of the future
11. I will act foremost out of love
12. I will be patient with myself and with others
13. I will always try to see things from other points of view
14. I will rarely condone absolutism or "all or nothing" ways of thinking
15. I will surround myself with people that I love, love me, or challenge me to be my best
16. I will remind myself that there is rarely a "right" way, but rather different paths to the same thing
17. I will write candidly and allow my views and voice to explore and change
18. I will relish the contradictions in life, and understand that such contradictions aren't necessarily mutually exclusive
19. I will serve others, but also myself
20. I will not fear what I do not understand
21. I will live a life of adventure without regret!