Because the Map Fades: A Letter for the Wandering Spirit
When the Way Unfolds Beyond Sight
When the Way Unfolds Beyond Sight
Sometimes, the paths we once knew begin to fade, and the maps we entrusted no longer guide us. In these moments of uncertainty and quiet wandering, the soul calls for gentle presence and tender understanding. This letter is a soft embrace for that wandering spirit, a reminder that even when the way beyond sight, you are seen, held, and deeply known.
Dedicated to my younger self, and the younger selves of all who have wandered, who still wander, and all the selves we’ve been along the way…
Dear little Jeanette,
I may not know exactly where you find yourself in this moment,
but I see you and I care… deeply.
I know what it’s like to feel painfully caught between versions of yourself…
floating between lives, adrift in a mist where nothing quite fits,
and every step feels uncertain.
Maybe those feelings never fully disappear.
Maybe we simply learn to live beside them…
to adapt, to soften,
to find beauty and meaning even when clarity hasn’t yet arrived.
I might just be a prime example of that.
This letter is for you baby. For all the parts of you that feel lost, messy, unseen, or misunderstood.
Keynote here, it’s okay to be messy.
It’s okay to not have all the answers, to stumble, to fall and scrape your knees, to question, and to sometimes feel like you’re trying to fit a shape the world wasn’t made for.
There will be moments when you feel out of sync, like a puzzle piece forced into the wrong place. It’s hard when others don’t understand you, or when their words cut deeper than you expect.
When others are mean or dismissive, know it reflects their own wounds and fears, not your worth… though I know that truth is a hard pill to swallow.
Your uniqueness, your vulnerability, your depth; these are not flaws to hide baby… they are luminous strands weaving the vibrant fabric of your marveling becoming.
These are the golden threads stitching together the richness of your story…
your resilience, your becoming, your quiet and growing light.
A story you will one day share, just as you’ve always dreamed.
A story that may offer hope, spark healing, and carry love…
exactly as your soul delights.
You are becoming a mosaic of shadow and radiance baby, imperfect and whole, tender and fierce.
You don’t have to have it all figured out… not now, and maybe not ever.
You’re not out of step baby; you’re dancing to a deeper rhythm.
You don’t have to rush to become something else or fix what was never truly wrong.
If only you could see the true beauty, you already are…
how even in the mess, even in the ache, you are luminous.
And please… wherever possible, allow yourself the grace to be where you are… surfing the waves of it all… to hold your own hand through the uncertainty, and to trust the quiet, slow alchemy of your unfolding.
There is sacredness in your messiness baby, in the jagged edges and the soft spaces between your breath.
I see you. I honor you. I love you so dearly… YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL!
You mean more to me than I can express.
With all my love and witnessing,
— Adultish Jeanette
If this letter has touched you, or if you feel called to explore more gentle guidance, soulful reflections, and sacred practices, you are warmly invited to join the community. Here, your journey will be met with kindness, resonance, and a shared devotion to healing and becoming whole.
Until then, may you walk softly with your heart wide open.
With all my love,
-J
"And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought."
Ulysses, Tennyson
What a tender, loving letter! It speaks not only to the young, but to the perennially young. Those who are not afraid even when they are confused, lonely and searching.
The self as a mosaic. Amazing.
How about the self as a kaleidoscope?