Sara Rosinsky • Shiny Red Copy
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  Sara Rosinsky • Shiny Red Copy

sara's Shiny red blog

I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter.

7/9/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture
Isn't this stationery gorgeous? It's handmade, from Two Hands Paperie in Boulder, Colorado.
That's the name of a 1935 song I've listened to a zillion times—sometimes as a recording by Fats Waller or Louis Armstrong, but most often, belted out by my father, who (as I've mentioned before) adored that sort of music. (I love this version by the fabulous Boswell Sisters.)

Unlike the protagonist of the song, however, I'm not inspired by romance. My goal is sanity. Or perspective, anyway.

See, I've noticed that, depending on circumstances, I can regard the world in drastically different ways.

When I'm approaching the deadline a large writing project, I can be filled with dread, self-doubt, and self-recrimination (for procrastinating). But then, at some point in the writing process, I find myself thinking, "Say! This is really good! I actually love this!" See the discrepancy there? Persona A: pained, fretting, reluctant victim. Persona B: fortunate, fulfilled, happy professional.

Similarly, when circumstances in my life get troublesome, I catastrophize. I am preternaturally talented at this. I can envision loved ones in prison or dead; I can enumerate all the ways my health might fail. It's not that I truly believe the worst is going to happen, exactly; but I sure can picture it. I have a terrific imagination, which can also be a terrible imagination. Eventually however, when my circumstances improve, I can recognize how silly I've been. I'm flooded not only with relief, but optimism. I admonish The Worrier in me and my whole outlook brightens.

So here's what I'm thinking. Why don't I write myself a letter?

When I'm feeling like a self-possessed copywriting pro, why don't I write a letter to the neurotic, tortured incompetent who will certainly show up at some point? I might set down assurances like, "I know you're nervous. But I promise you with absolute certainty: You are going to be fine, and this project is going to turn out great. Just keep on writing. Every word you type will get you closer to a finished result that you love. Go on."

Similarly, at one of those moments when my temporary troubles abate and I see my way out of doom-filled concern into sunshiny rationality, I should write my former (and future) fretting self: "Just cut it out, worrywart. First, it doesn't do you any good. Second, what you're envisioning is truly preposterous."

If I write to myself, I could help myself.

Come to think of it, though, maybe I don't need to write a literal letter. I believe this blog post will do the trick nicely.

Yours sincerely,

​Sara


2 Comments
Stjepan link
9/11/2019 04:34:11 am

Hi Sara!
Thank you for sharing.
This reminds me irresistibly of the reasons why I began writing some 15 years ago. I suppose I did end up writing myself a very long letter that is still not finished.
Additionally, it reminds me of my theory about the definition of the mind as the construct whose sole purpose is to collect all the information from our senses and out of them - generate Context. And this Context consists of the factual Observation, collected from the senses, which is unchangeable (independent from Context), the Emotion and the Interpretation that follows from that Emotion. These 3 together generate - Context.
And as you've so simply and beautifully described - the Observation does not really change - but the change in Context has such a tremendous impact on our behavior and so many other things.

Reply
Sara Rosinsky link
9/11/2019 06:21:03 am

Thanks for reading and commenting. I'll be thinking on that for a while!

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