One year later...hi again

Hey there,

It’s been a while.

I hope you’ve been well.

I’ve missed you.

It feels weird typing this right now. Feels like there’s so much I want to say but I don’t want to overwhelm you.

It’s been nearly a year since I sent the last newsletter. I promised that as I traveled the world, I would keep you up to date on everything.

But as soon as I took that first flight out of LA, I realized I needed hibernation. I needed to stay away from most emails, texts, big groups, news, social media.

That’s been hard to do at times as the world has continued to be its crazy self.

Yet, I’ve gotten pretty good at it. At being with myself. Self-regulating. At filtering what’s important. At feeling safe in my body.

This, I’ve realized, is the first step to a beautiful life and a beautiful world…

An internal sense of safety.

I’ve been so desperate to feel safe in this vessel called Matt my whole life. And now I can truthfully say that it’s working.

Nature, meditation, prayer, creativity, healthy community, nutritious food, exercise, play, sleep.

These are all forms of self-love that I practice daily now.

And that’s what’s happened this year...

I’ve learned to love myself.

To have compassion for myself.

To stand up for myself.

To reparent that beautiful lil’ kid inside me that’s always needed to feel safe and seen.

I have full conversations with him now.

I know that may sound weird but it’s true. My inner child is vocal. He’s playful. Full of life. He loves love. Loves people. And dogs. Man does this lil’ dude love dogs.

And in deep meditation and communion with him—aka myself—he’s expressed that he’s ready to create again. To write. To build. To be seen. To come out of hibernation.

So here we are. This is me. Showing myself again.

This newsletter, I hope, will become a place you can come to where you too can feel safe.

Where you can feel hopeful. Where, despite what the world may tell you, there is reason to rejoice.

I’ve been through the freaking mental health gauntlet.

I know that pain.

Deeply.

And I’m now coming out of it.

Fully.

Growing more and more in love with my life, with this world.

And if you’re reading this, and you’re still in it…I gotchu. We gotchu. You are so not alone.

I’m definitely gonna have more hard days ahead, and I’ll be honest and vulnerable about those too.

But the trend is upwards, and the mountain is high.

And baby, we climbin’.

Man, it feels good to be back.

Holy moly.

Holy freaking moly.

Alrighty, that is all for now.

Love you deeply,

Matt