Mother’s Letter of Hope – By Phoenix Rising
My beautiful empresses, my young queens, my sisters still finding their way—I write these words to you from behind walls that cannot contain my spirit. My name is Phoenix Rising, and I am a 26-year-old mother of two precious souls who remind me every single day why transformation matters. Today, as I sit in this space of reflection, I want to share something with you that has been burning in my heart, a truth that has set me free even while my body remains confined.
This morning, like every morning, I woke up with a choice. I could wake up drowning in the weight of my regrets, replaying every wrong turn, every bad decision, every moment I wish I could take back—or I could wake up understanding a powerful truth that changed everything for me: “Yesterday has already been written, and today is the pen of tomorrow.”
Let me tell you what this means, not just in words, but in the depth of my soul where real change happens.
The Prison We Build in Our Minds
See, I learned something profound here, something that truly took losing my freedom to understand. The walls around me are real, yes. But the walls I built in my own mind? Those were even stronger. For too long, I was trapped in the prison of my past—replaying my mistakes on repeat like a broken record, punishing myself over and over again for things I couldn’t change.
I would wake up thinking about the mother I should have been yesterday. The choices I should have made last week. The path I should have walked years ago. I was so busy dwelling in yesterday’s story—a story that was already written, already done, already set in stone—that I was completely missing today. And in missing today, I was destroying tomorrow before it even had a chance to exist.
Young queens, listen to me: You are not your past. Read that again. You are NOT your past.
Your past is a chapter in your story, yes. It’s a page that’s been written, ink that’s already dried. But baby girl, you are not a book that’s already finished. You are still being written. Right now. This very moment. The pen is in your hand.
The Power of This Present Moment
When I say “yesterday has already been written,” I’m not telling you to forget where you came from or to pretend your past didn’t happen. Our experiences, even the painful ones, teach us. They shape us. They give us wisdom. But here’s the key—they don’t have to define us. They don’t get to write our future unless we provide them with that power.
Today is the pen of tomorrow. Think about that. Really let it sink in.
Every decision you make today is literally writing the story of your tomorrow. Every thought you choose to think right now is creating the reality you’ll wake up to. Every person you choose to forgive today, including yourself, is drawing the blueprint for your healing tomorrow. Every boundary you set, every dream you dare to dream, every time you choose love over fear, hope over despair, growth over stagnation—you are writing tomorrow’s story.
And the beautiful thing? You get to choose what that story says.
A Letter to My Younger Self and to You
If I could go back and talk to the younger version of me, the girl who thought her mistakes defined her, the young woman who believed she was too broken to be beautiful, too damaged to be redeemed, I would grab her by the shoulders, look her in the eyes, and say:
“Baby, you are being way too hard on yourself.”
I see you, young empress, carrying guilt that’s too heavy for your shoulders. I see you punishing yourself for not being perfect, for making mistakes, for being human. I see you believing the lie that you’re not worthy of a second chance, a fresh start, a new beginning.
Stop. Breathe. Listen.
Your mistakes do not disqualify you from your destiny. Let me say that louder for the ones in the back: YOUR MISTAKES DO NOT DISQUALIFY YOU FROM YOUR DESTINY.
I am a mother of two, sitting in a place where society says I’ve failed. But I refuse to let this moment define my whole story. Yes, I made choices that led me here. Yes, I have regrets. Yes, there are things I would do differently if I could go back. But I can’t go back. None of us can.
What I can do is wake up today and choose to be better. Choose to grow. Choose to heal. Choose to become the woman my children need me to be, the woman I was always meant to be.
Living in the Present: Where Real Power Lives
Here’s what I’ve learned about living in the present moment: This is where God works. This is where opportunities show up. This is where change happens.
When you’re stuck in yesterday, replaying your mistakes, you miss the blessing that’s trying to reach you today. When you’re so busy beating yourself up about what you did wrong last week, you miss the person who could change your life standing right in front of you this week. When
you’re trapped in the shame of your past, you miss the God-sent opportunity knocking on the door of your present.
I call them God-sent opportunities because that’s precisely what they are. Divine appointments. Sacred moments. Chances to choose differently. Doors opening where there used to be only walls. Light breaking through where there was only darkness.
But you have to be present to receive them. You have to be awake in the now.
Every single day, I wake up in this place, and I have a choice. I can waste today being angry about yesterday, or I can use today to build a better tomorrow. I can spend my time dwelling on the story that’s already been written, or I can pick up the pen and start writing something new.
Make Memories Worth Remembering
My advice to you, my beautiful empresses, is this: Live in the present. Make memories and decisions that you will be happy about tomorrow and in the future.
Think about the woman you want to become. Think about the life you want to create. Think about the legacy you want to leave. Now ask yourself: Are my choices today building that future, or am I just repeating the same chapter from yesterday?
You have the power to break cycles. To change patterns. To rewrite narratives. To become someone completely new. But that power only exists in the present moment.
Stop being so hard on yourself for not being perfect. Nobody is perfect. We’re all works in progress, all rough drafts being revised, all gardens still growing. What matters is not where you’ve been, but the direction you’re choosing right now, today, in this moment.
You Are the Future
Here’s the truth that set me free, and I pray it sets you free too: You are not your past. You are the future.
The mistakes you made yesterday? They’re in the rearview mirror. The pain you experienced? It’s behind you, not ahead of you. The person you used to be? That’s old news. Who are you becoming? That’s the story that matters.
I’m Phoenix Rising, and I chose this name for a reason. A phoenix is a mythical bird that burns up and is reborn from its own ashes. It doesn’t sit in the ashes crying about being burned. It doesn’t stay dead. It rises. It transforms. It becomes something more beautiful, more powerful, more alive than it was before.
That’s who you are. That’s who I am. We are phoenixes, empresses. We rise.
Every day you wake up, you rise. Every time you choose growth over comfort, you rise. Every moment you forgive yourself, you rise. Every decision you make to be better than you were yesterday, you rise.
As I reflected on my own healing journey, I came across a powerful article on how our past doesn’t define us but teaches us valuable lessons. It beautifully explains that every mistake is a stepping stone, not a life sentence.
The Pen is in Your Hand
So today, right now, in this very moment, I want you to make yourself a promise. Promise yourself that you will stop dwelling on yesterday’s story. Promise yourself that you will stop being so hard on yourself for being human. Promise yourself that you will pick up the pen and start writing a tomorrow that makes you proud.
Yesterday has already been written, empress. That ink is dry. That page is turned. You can’t change it, and you don’t need to keep rereading it.
But today? Today is the pen of tomorrow. And the pen is in your hand.
What will you write?
Will you write a story of transformation? Of growth? Of healing? Of rising? Or will you keep writing the same old story, over and over, trapped in a cycle that doesn’t serve you?
The choice is yours. It always has been. It always will be.
I’m sitting here, a 26-year-old mother who made mistakes, who fell, who lost her way—but who is choosing to rise. I’m using this time not as a prison sentence but as a classroom. I’m learning. I’m growing. I’m healing. I’m becoming.
And if I can do it from in here, imagine what you can do out there.
Live in the present, my empresses. Make it count. Make it beautiful. Make it yours. You are not your past. You are not your mistakes. You are not your pain. You are the future. You are a possibility. You are hope. You are a phoenix rising. Now spread your wings and fly.
With love and hope,
Phoenix Rising
Mother, Empress, Overcomer