Before we get started: This post was originally shared with my email community in September 2020.

Finding purpose in my life and work feels important. The reason for this is very simple. I believe that when we have a vision for the future, when we create something to look forward to, we create HOPE. I shared some thoughts with my community of subscribers a few weeks ago and thought I’d share them here too. If you’d like to receive letters like this to your inbox every other Saturday, you can sign up below. You’ll also receive two free photography e-books: Simple Snaps & Looking for Light and a creative self-care planner.

Dear ten year old me,

One afternoon, not too far from now, you’ll step into a pokey little room with brown curtains and carpet stains for your “career guidance” meeting. A middle-aged man who smells of stale coffee and cigarettes will sit at a cluttered desk and try to dictate your fate. You’ll wonder how a life can be decided through multiple-choice tick boxes.

I know you can’t imagine how on earth it’s possible to choose just one job for the rest of your life. And trust me when I say, don’t worry, it doesn’t need to be this way. Maybe there is no one neat box for you. You can shift and pivot as often as you like. Everything you do counts. Nothing is wasted. You may end up doing work that looks nothing like anyone else's. This is ok and should be encouraged. There’ll be many peaks and troughs, much head-scratching and soul-searching. There may even be a few years where you don’t work at all. Don’t let this rob you of your confidence. It’s always there, you might just need to dig for it.

Your teens will be a yo-yo. A heady mix of melancholic longing, feeling the pull of a thousand different directions as you try to find the one that fits. Don’t let the mean girls make you feel less than you are. It was never about you anyway.

There will be this crazy thing called the Internet, it’s hard to explain but basically, at any point on any given day, you’ll be able to see everyone else’s great successes. You’ll look often. It’ll make you feel as though you’re not enough. But I want you to get into the habit of a sense-checking everything you’re seeing. Ask yourself this one question: what is their motivation to show me this? You’ll find the answer to be more simple than you could’ve imagined.

Then get your blinkers on and do your own thing.

Why? Because if you don’t, you run the risk of always looking, always longing. And it’s never possible to figure out your own path from the sidelines. Just. Get. Going.

I won’t tell you what lies ahead because I don’t think that’s helpful, but what I will say is that anything that comes your way, you’ll find the fortitude to face and somehow, you’ll arrive on the other side almost grateful for the challenges, no matter how much they hurt.

Adversity will come, but to push on through and find ways to rise again and again builds strength and resilience. And even if you don’t want this for yourself, do it for your daughter so you can show her what it means to be a person in the world who cares.

Be a person in the world who cares. Make your thing. Root it in who you are. Make it quietly, make it loudly, make it gently, make it bravely. Whatever works for you, on any given day, is absolutely fine. Just get going, and keep going.

Suzie x

FINDING YOUR PURPOSE : A LETTER TO MY YOUNGER SELF