Latest / The Letterbox Podcast / Dear Ang | Finding Yourself Again After Heartbreak and Losing the Future You Imagined

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Dear Ang | Finding Yourself Again After Heartbreak and Losing the Future You Imagined · The Letterbox Podcast

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  Hello and welcome back to the Letterbox podcast, the place
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  where people share the letters they've written in the moments
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  that changed them. If you're joining me for the
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  first time today, welcome. This episode is the second in a
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  special three-part series from one incredible writer, and each
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  letter stands on its own, but together they tell one story,
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  from saying goodbye to the past, to rediscovering yourself, to
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  dreaming about the future. If you haven't yet listened to
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  yesterday's episode, Dear Him, I'd really encourage you to go
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  back and start there. Before we begin, if you're
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  enjoying listening, please follow the podcast wherever you
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  are listening, or share an episode that you've enjoyed with
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  someone else who you think might like it too.
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  Yesterday we heard and say goodbye, not just to her
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  relationship, but the future she believed she was building.
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  Today the story moves on. It's a letter to herself.
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  When Angie sent me the letters, she told me that they had become
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  a way of making sense of the heartbreak, honouring the love
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  she had and slowly finding her way back to herself.
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  I think that's what makes this letter so special because after
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  heartbreak, so many of us asked the same questions.
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  Who am I now? What parts of me did I lose?
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  And how do I begin again? This letter reminds us that
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  healing isn't about becoming who we were before.
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  Sometimes it's about remembering the parts of ourselves we never
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  truly lanced. So now it's time for Angie's
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  second letter. Dear Anne, how did we get here?
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  Really, How did we go from believing our life was ending to
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  standing at the beginning of everything we had only ever
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  dreamed about a little while ago?
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  You were convinced your future had already been written.
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  You thought you'd spend the rest of your life in corporate.
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  You thought you'd marry the man you loved.
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  You imagined a home, children, routines, holidays, and all the
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  little ordinary moments that make up life.
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  Then everything changed. At first it felt unfair.
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  It felt like the rug had been pulled out from underneath you.
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  You questioned yourself, your worth, your judgement, your
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  dreams and even your faith. You wondered how someone you
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  loved so deeply could become someone you no longer
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  recognised. You wondered if life had
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  forgotten about you. But maybe life wasn't taking
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  something away. Maybe it was making room.
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  Look at you now. You're packing suitcases instead
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  of unpacking heartbreak. You've created a travel account
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  because you finally decided your life was worth documenting.
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  You're connecting with people all over the world, planning
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  routes through Europe, researching cafes, restaurants,
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  beaches, trains, and hidden streets that only a year ago you
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  never imagined you'd see. You might be teaching in another
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  country. You might spend the next chapter
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  of your life halfway across the world.
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  Your choosing uncertainty over familiarity, adventure over fear
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  and possibility over comfort. Do you realise how brave that
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  is? Nothing could have prepared you
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  for this moment. You thought your greatest love
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  story would begin with another person.
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  Instead, it began the day you chose yourself.
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  There's something beautifully ironic about that.
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  You are standing still and moving forward at the very same
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  time. You're grieving the life you
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  thought you would have while simultaneously falling in love
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  with the lipe quietly unfolding in front of you.
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  That takes courage. You don't know what's waiting
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  for you in Europe. You don't know whether Korea
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  will become home. You don't know who you'll meet,
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  what conversations you'll have, what streets you'll walk, or
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  what version of yourself you'll discover.
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  And maybe that's the point. For the first time in your life,
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  you don't need all the answers before taking the next step.
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  You're learning to trust yourself instead.
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  Will you meet the love of your life?
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  Maybe. Will you become a mother?
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  Maybe. Will your life plans change
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  again? Almost certainly.
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  Life has taught you that nothing is guaranteed, but it also
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  taught you the endings are rarely endings.
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  More often than not, they are invitations disguised as
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  heartbreak. So go board the plane, get lost,
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  miss trains, meet strangers, laugh until your stomach hurts.
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  Cry when you need to. Fall in love with cities.
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  Fall in love with quiet mornings, fall in love with your
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  own company. And if you ever forget who you
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  are, remember this moment. The moment you realised your
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  future was never taken away from you, it was simply waiting for
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  you to become brave enough to meet it.
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  I am so proud of you. Now go live the life you've
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  spent years whispering to the universe with all my love and
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  and thank you so much again for such a beautifully written and
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  honest letter. I think it's incredibly hard to
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  write to yourself with such honesty, and I'm so glad that
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  you wrote that you're proud of yourself because you really
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  should be. And I, along with everyone
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  listening and learning your story, is proud of you too.
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  I know that going through heartbreak and feeling lost and
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  trying to rediscover yourself is something that so many listeners
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  will be able to resonate with. So you writing with such
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  positivity and excitement for your future is really, really
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  heartwarming and just I know will bring a lot of hope to
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  anybody who right now is in the depths of heartbreak.
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  Tomorrow we will hear the final chapter of Andy's story to the
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  future child she hopes to meet one day.
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  It's another letter that reminds us that even after loss, our
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  heart can still make room for hope.
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  So if you haven't already, make sure you are pressing that
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  follow button wherever you are listening from right now so that
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  you don't miss when Andy's final letter comes out.
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  And if you know somebody who is having a hard time right now or
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  is going through heartbreak, consider sending this letter to
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  them and showing them that their future can be really bright and
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  full of adventure. And of course, if you've got
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  your own letter that you've been waiting to write, I would love
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  to read it. So you send it to
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  theletterboxpodcast@outlook.com and it might just be the next
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  episode of the podcast. Thank you so much for spending
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  this time with me. And I'll see you here tomorrow
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  for the final letter.