I have this tendency of judging my past self - holding her mistakes against her, blaming her for not being further along, shaming her for not knowing things sooner, and criticizing her choices, worldview, and way of being (while also smugly believing I’m way more evolved than she was).

I can be super condescending to my past self.

But a week ago, I was looking at some photos of my younger self (like the two below), and I felt her jump up and out of these photos to push back and take me on.

She got a little sharp with me.

She said: No actually, I’m amazing, and you need an attitude adjustment. Did you forget how hard I worked to figure all this out? How much adversity I overcame? For you? How much I sacrificed and risked to create the groundwork for what you’re doing and who you’re becoming now? How about a little gratitude?

She told me that she knew what she was doing, and that she thought she did most of it pretty damn well and that maybe I should mind my own business, worry about myself, and do the work that’s mine to do now rather than futuresplaining at her.

It shook me.

She was absolutely right, and I made a commitment to her in that moment to work with rather than against her and give her the respect her deserved.

Because my past selves are beloved ancestors, not shameful, lesser versions of me.

It made me think: how might I extend grace and hospitality to all of my selves, all parts of me? And what might it mean to be in solidarity and partnership with myself? To be on my own side and have my own back - not just now, but across all dimensions of time and space?

Because, as with anything (and as I’m learning over and over again), love just works better than judgement.