Hey Friend,

I was looking through documents on an old laptop, and I found a piece I wrote (and never planned to share), but I think it’s important. I think it’s important that you know that my life wasn’t always as incredible as it is now. I didn’t sail through every challenge without angst or doubt. I am very much human and have fought through so many of the same feelings that you have experienced yourself.

Back in 2014, I was just a girl with a dream, in the middle of a divorce, with two flopped releases, who was putting one foot in front of the other, believing without any evidence that my dream could come true for me. I wasn’t a millionaire or a multi-millionaire, but I was still me.

Here’s something I wrote on one of those really rough days, where I could’ve thrown in the towel and walked away, resigned to being a lawyer forever and never becoming the rock star I knew I could become.

I’m really, really glad that Meg of 2014 had so much grit and faith. I am so grateful to that girl, because without her—without her strength and her courage through the hard times—I never would have made it to the amazing ones.

Wherever you are on your journey, know that brighter days are ahead. Life wants you to win. Life wants you to be happy and free. And sometimes, when the storms threaten to drown you, you just have to buckle down, dig deep in your stubbornness, and keep going forward—even if you don’t know how it could possibly all work out. Just. Keep. Going.

November 5, 2014

Today is one of those days. One of those days when you wonder if the dream in your head is only ever going to be a pipe dream.

Dream big, they say. Set goals, they say.

But all the big dreaming and goal setting in the world doesn’t squash the self-doubt in my head.

The insidious whispers can’t be silenced: None of the books you write will ever be as good as the people who are actually making a career out of this. Even if they are as good, it doesn’t matter, because no one will ever notice you and read them. Maybe if you’d started over two years ago when the market wasn’t so saturated, you might’ve had a chance. A day late and a dollar short. That’s all you’ll ever be.

I hate those fucking whispers.

I hate that some days, like today, they morph into full-out screams.

And what I hate most is sometimes I believe them.

No one wants to witness a pity party, and I absolutely abhor throwing them. I’m a terrible hostess, after all. But there are days when it seems unavoidable.

Throw in feeling absolutely alone and unsure of what the hell you’ve just done to the life you used to recognize, and it’s like a perfect fucking storm.

Just beat it back and slam closed the hatches. Bunker down. And just keep fucking going.

***

That was the advice of 2014, Meg. She was a smart girl. Totally unstoppable. Don’t listen to the voices of self-doubt and definitely don’t believe them. THEY ARE LIARS. They have no idea how amazingly benevolent life truly is. Keep going. Keep believing in yourself. The storm will clear. Dreams do come true. I know because I’ve lived it. And the only reason I’ve lived it is because I didn’t give up.

Love,