Diving into the past to change the future

First time author and former Vaalweekblad news editor Melanie Britz has managed to do what some of us only wish we could do – go back in time to her 20-year old self and “offer herself” the wisdom gained from years spent in the trenches of life.
In her self-published memoir Dive In – Unlocking happiness and miracles, Britz has literally jumped into the deep end of her young adult life, picking away at the painful memories of a family torn apart by a divorce no one saw coming and the trauma of a mother’s near suicide attempt.
“It was really a powerful process to see my younger self so clearly and to realise, 20 years later, how far I had come and how much I had learnt,” explains Britz.
Her memoir consists of letters penned to her younger self and was recently published as a Kindle eBook on Amazon.
“In this moment, you are in your second year of university in Johannesburg. So innocent, and so unprepared for what is to come,” writes Britz in reference to the looming divorce of her parents and the violent murder of a childhood friend.
“This is going to mark the moment we lose our faith in God (and life)”.
The letter, she says, is not only about sharing her life story, but how she overcame the things that impacted her while growing up.
“As a child, I was never really taught how to handle my emotions. This caused huge problems in my adult life. Over time I learnt how to process difficult emotions and it’s one of the things I share in detail in the letters. Another part focuses on our subconscious programming, which makes an impact on us later on in our life.
“The book also focuses on self-love and acceptance and how one can learn to forgive yourself and others for mistakes that were made in the past.”
Other topics related to programming and which she touches on, include her struggle with her beliefs around money and her weight.
Britz has taken the publication of her book a step further after realising just how many women could relate to what she had shared. She created a website, www.showinguptoday.com, and in the conclusion to her memoir, invites others to share their own letters to their younger selves online.
“Sitting down and really thinking about my life and all the things I wanted to tell my younger self was a moment of deep introspection, but also a moment of power for me. By taking charge of the stories we tell ourselves about the sh** that happened to us, the bad things we did and the pain we experienced, we are able to transmute them into helpful, shining examples of bravery and kindness to ourselves. It’s a special kind of magic, I think.”
Readers can e-mail letters@showinguptoday.com if they would like to submit a letter to be published on her website.