Letters to a Younger Me: Gabby Douglas, first African-American to win Olympic individual all-around gold

Dear Gabrielle,

So you're having the worst meet of your life. You went into your fourth U.S. championships hoping to earn another spot on the national team, but this time as a senior team member. But the fact that you're struggling with hamstring and hip flexor injuries, not to mention still adjusting to life in Iowa, where you moved to train -- 1,200 miles away from home -- has caught up with you. You talk to coach Liang Chow about your fears, and he tells you to believe in yourself. Because of your injuries, you're unsure of yourself, and during the two days of the competition you have several falls on the beam and finish seventh in the overall standings. A month later, to the surprise of many people, you make the world championship team. You really want to become the all-around world champion, but instead your teammate wins the title.

You're scared and disappointed. But you must ignore those voices in your head, the ones that keep nagging: What if I fall again? What if it hurts? What if I'm not good enough? Just go back out there and have fun, like you did when you first started gymnastics. You'll look back at these meets as a turning point. When you get hurt again leading up to Olympic trials, you won't freak out. You'll push the fear aside and calmly work through that ankle sprain. And guess what? Less than a year from now, you'll be shining as brightly as the Olympic gold medals they place around your neck.

So don't be afraid to get back on the beam and take the leap. You're going to land in a good place.

Courtesy of ESPN

Letter to A Younger Me: Abby Wambach, 33, All-time leading scorer in women's soccer history

Dear Abby,

It's tough being the youngest of seven kids. You feel like the family's tackling dummy. Your four brothers force you to play goalie and then fire slap shots at you. They hang you from doorknobs by your underwear. You even have to play defense at dinner: biting French fries in half so that your siblings won't steal them off your plate.

But your family will completely shape you, not only in terms of your physicality and talent on the soccer field but also the way you approach life off the field. You will learn from your brothers' and sisters' successes -- and their mistakes. They will teach you how to stand up for yourself, and how to be a part of a team.

After you score 27 goals in your first three rec-league games, mom and dad will move you to a boys team. Thanks to your siblings, you'll already know how to deal with not being the fastest or best player on the field. You will strive the rest of your life to skirt that feeling. You'll learn how to tackle, how to protect and use your body -- and head -- to your advantage.

You'll want to fight fame when it's first thrown at you, but the sooner you embrace it, and commit to the game and your future, the more successful you'll be. If you want to be the best, you're going to have to train harder, eat better and focus on fitness -- even though it's your least favorite part of the game. Don't be afraid to fail. Stop making excuses. Leave nothing in the tank and all that effort will pay off in the end. You'll score a lot more goals in your career, but not one of them will happen without the help of a teammate. -- ABBY

Courtesy of ESPN

Letter to A Younger Me: Sandra Bernhard

Courtesy of DearMe

Letter to a Younger Me: Kathleen Turner

Courtesy of DearMe

Letters to a 16 Year Old Me: GILLIAN ANDERSON

Oprah's Letter to Her Younger Self

Dear beautiful brown-skinned girl, 

I look into your eyes and see the light and hope of myself. 

In this photo you are just about to turn 20, posing outside the television station where you were recently hired as a reporter. You're proud of yourself for getting the job, but uncertain you'll be able to manage all your college classes before 1 and arrive at the station by 1:30 for a full day's work. Even so, your biggest concern is how to manage your love life with Bubba. Yes, you are dating someone named Bubba. 

On this day you've brought him to the station to see where you work, hoping he'll be proud, too. He seems less than impressed. The truth is, he's intimidated. You don't know this, though, because you can see yourself only through his eyes. A lesson you will have to learn again and again: to see yourself with your own eyes, to love yourself from your own heart. 

You've spent too many days and years trying to please others and be what they wanted you to be. You will have to learn that the wounds of your past—rape, molestation, whippings for "stepping out of place," and not being allowed to show anger or cry afterward—damaged your self-esteem. Yet through it all, you've held on to a belief in God and God's belief in you. 

That will be your single greatest gift: knowing there is a power greater than yourself and trusting that Force to guide you. 

The trajectory of your life changed the day you answered the call from Chris Clark, the news director at WLAC-TV. Your response was ignited by the words of your then-favorite Bible verse, Philippians 3:14. "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 

Knowing there is a "high calling" is what will sustain and fulfill you. 

From where I sit now, viewing your journey, there are few regrets. Only months before this picture was taken, you wrote a poem about a "woman becoming." Even then you understood that success was a process and that moving with the flow of life and not against it would be your greatest achievement. 

Love you deeply,

Oprah

From May 2012 issue of Oprah Magazine

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Oprahs-Letter-to-Her-Younger-Self-Oprah-Wisdom#ixzz2k5pESkh7

WELCOME! (The Introduction Post)

This blog was created as a platform to provide words of wisdom and encouragement to the young ladies in this world. We are looking to collect millions of stories that can be read by people that are in the same situation we were once in. 

Letters to encourage that teenage mother that feels like she can't make it through this hard time by herself. Letters to the young girl that sits alone at lunch because everyone thinks she "weird". Letters to the young girl with no self esteem that is giving her self worth to people that don't value it or her. Letters to the young girl that's currently getting bullied. Letters to the young girl that is sexually confused and is scared to own her emotions. Letters to the young girls that feel lost, misunderstood, unloved, taken for granted, and even depressed.

We want these letters to be completely from the heart and most of all, written in 3rd person. Write to the young woman you used to be and explain to her how hard life was and most importantly, how life got better. As you post your stories in the comments of this post, we will create posts from your stories and continuously add them to the blog.

Our kids are killing themselves daily due to the lack of encouragement and the feelings of humiliation and/or fear to speak to someone. This is an anonymous platform where they can read about similar experiences while also getting words of support and no one will ever have to know. This a way for us to help the future while healing ourselves.

IF YOU ARE THAT YOUNG GIRL THAT NEEDS SOME HELP, ENCOURAGEMENT, OR JUST AN ANONYMOUS PESON TO VENT TO, WE WANT TO HELP YOU! We are here to help with unbiased support and answers that you may not want to ask the people around you or issues that you may be scared to discuss. We want to reach out and help. We want to show you how important you are and how important you life is. Most of all, through the stories of older woman that have been there, that life goes on and that your future can always be bright. Don't give up on life. Don't give up on yourself. We didn't and we made it.