Latest / The Letterbox Podcast / Dear Dowon | A Letter To The Friend Who Made Me Love Myself

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Dear Dowon | A Letter To The Friend Who Made Me Love Myself · The Letterbox Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome back to the Letterbox podcast.
• 0:03
  I'm Lucy. And this is a place where people
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  share letters about the people, places, memories or moments that
• 0:12
  really matter to them. Today's is a really, really
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  lovely letter and it comes from her Jara.
• 0:20
  She is a writer, poet and author based in Sri Lanka.
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  She's written this letter to her friend Derwan, and she said she
• 0:29
  wanted to use her name because she really deserves the
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  recognition for the impact she's had on her Jahara's life before.
• 0:39
  I read you this incredible letter of love and friendship.
• 0:42
  Whether this is your first time listening to the Letterbox
• 0:46
  podcast or perhaps you've been here from the beginning, if you
• 0:49
  have not yet pressed the follow button, I really would love for
• 0:53
  you to do it right now before the letter begins because it is
• 0:57
  simply the best way that you can support the podcast, help me
• 1:02
  keep it going and to send these letters all around the world.
• 1:09
  So here it is, her Jarez letter about how she found someone
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  worth loving. Dear Dylan, I love who I am when
• 1:24
  I love people. It's a strange thing to say,
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  especially for a girl who has the anger of a flash flood, the
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  kind of dry, heavy heat where a single spark of fire can burn
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  down an entire forest. Her mind constantly revolves
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  around irritation, the sharp annoyance when people walk too
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  slowly in front of you, or the sudden rage that erupts when
• 1:53
  someone tries to correct you on something you are already doing
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  perfectly. It is an exhausting, burning
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  storm, leaving behind a heavy ash that forces me to live with
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  guilt every passing minute. This is me.
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  That's known to me. Not a lot of people enjoy this
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  essence, and honestly, neither do I.
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  But there is someone else hidden underneath this ruthless cover,
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  the version that many fail to discover even after nearing the
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  edge of discovery, failing to unravel it and finding
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  themselves at the brink of realisation.
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  There is a softer version of me that you have to earn, one that
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  only very few ever get to see. I am my favourite version of
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  myself when I care deeply. A heart that loves creates a
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  version of you that's worth keeping.
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  Love, you see, diminished the resentful version I had of
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  myself. Instead, it created an awakening
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  gentleness I didn't know I possessed.
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  Being someone who deeply adores and yearns for genuine
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  friendships, relationships, just anything platonic that gives a
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  pure connection between two souls who want nothing but
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  absolute goodness for each other.
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  When life sings a lullaby to put you to sleep so that you wake up
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  gazing into a set of eyes that makes everything shift.
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  That's when you realise that some souls sharing the same blue
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  world and swift breath is enough to make the air around you feel
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  safer, calmer. People like them.
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  The ones who make my heart one of love bring out a deeply
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  creative side of me. A gentle wind hitting a leaf
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  could too, but the creativity love brings out is physical.
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  It's the kind where I sit down for hours, completely lost in
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  thought, thinking of everything they love and everything that
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  might make them love me a little more.
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  Suddenly my world is filled with both and pretty pink ribbons.
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  Letters dance across the pages while my mind turns into a
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  beautiful chaotic mess trying to find a delicate, handmade
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  creativity I never knew I had. I love when people do that, when
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  they unknowingly pull a version of me out into the light, a
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  beautiful side of myself I didn't know existed within me.
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  I have come to cherish the way how certain people coax the
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  physical creativity out of me, transforming quiet afternoons
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  into hours spent measuring, cutting, and shaping details
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  just for them. After all, handmade gifts are
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  the truest language. My love speaks to the heart that
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  taught mine what love truly means, revealing the rare beauty
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  of a platonic bond, what it genuinely feels like to give
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  entirely with eyes closed and to be softly held hand in hand in
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  return. Making the writer in me love the
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  singer in you. Though the day that celebrates
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  your existence still lies far away in September, by the time
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  measured for the slow gathering of love, there is a deep quiet
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  yearning to show the boundless love deserved.
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  And I hope that such love can be given from me for it to be my
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  hands and mine alone that give to you.
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  For my heart already sits with you from afar.
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  In the distance, I catch my lips forming a curve, sitting under
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  the sun basked dusk, tracing the delicate trail of the words 18
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  reasons why I love you. For an 18th birthday, when
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  clarity takes over me, I love you for making me love me.
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  Hi Jared, thank you so much for sharing such a lovely, lovely
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  letter reminding us that friendship really is every bit
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  as important as any romance. And I've got to say, I'm so glad
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  that you have found each other. If today's letter inspired you
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  to maybe write one of your own, remember it can be about
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  absolutely anything. And although so many of these
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  letters are beautifully written, there is no requirement for
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  that. As long as it's true, as long as
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  it means something to you, then I would love to read it.
• 7:28
  You can find the e-mail in the show notes though, so drop me a
• 7:30
  message anytime. Sending you all so much love.