“The Lost Letter”
I found it by accident, tucked between the pages of an old book I hadn’t touched in years. A letter, yellowed at the edges, the handwriting familiar yet distant. It was from Brianna — written in a time when we still believed in forever.
We were young, naïve, and full of dreams. I hadn’t heard from her in over a decade, not since the day we promised to keep in touch, though life quickly pulled us in different directions. She was off to chase her career, and I stayed behind to figure out mine. We had always thought time would bring us back together, but time has a way of unraveling even the best-laid plans.
I unfolded the letter, my hands trembling slightly. Her words were simple, but they carried the weight of all the things we never said:
“If you’re reading this, then I guess I never found the right moment to give it to you. Funny how that happens, huh? We always think there’s more time. I don’t know where life will take us, but I hope you never lose sight of who you are. You’re more than what you settle for. Remember that.”
More than what I settle for.
It struck me, hard. We spend so much of our lives convincing ourselves that we have time — time to pursue our dreams, to say the things we mean, to become the people we want to be. But somewhere along the way, we start settling. For the jobs that don’t fulfill us. For the relationships that don’t challenge us. For the routine, the familiar, the safe.
I sat there, staring at the letter, wondering if Brianna had ever settled. I wondered if she had found what she was looking for or if she, like me, had been caught up in the endless loop of “someday.”
The truth is, we all have our versions of Brianna — people we’ve lost touch with, letters we never sent, dreams we shelved for later. But what if later never comes? What if the people and moments we let slip through our fingers were the ones we were meant to hold on to?
I folded the letter carefully and placed it back in the book. It felt wrong to keep it out in the open, like it was a secret I was never meant to uncover. But the message lingered, like a whisper in the back of my mind.
Maybe it’s time to stop waiting. Maybe it’s time to call the people we’ve been meaning to reach out to. Maybe it’s time to dust off those dreams and take a chance, before they turn into “what ifs” we can never answer.
I didn’t know where Brianna was now, or if she even remembered writing that letter. But as I stood up, I knew one thing for sure: I wasn’t going to keep settling.
Because maybe, just maybe, life is too short for that.
Have you ever found something you’d forgotten about, or reached a point where you realized you were settling for less? Drop a comment below and share your thoughts. Let’s talk about the dreams we’re ready to chase, the people we need to reconnect with, and the letters we might still need to send. 👏🏽💬
