Half a year ago, I quit my job to build my startup. It had been my dream for the longest time but it wasn’t really what I had imagined. Growing up, I was quick at grasping theories and excelled in academics effortlessly. This transferred well in my 9 to 5. But building something new challenges this confidence in a way that I never imagined.

Every day, I receive so much conflicting information (or opinions). Aesthetic precedes functionality, or is it the other way? Copy what works, or the market is simply too saturated? I still don’t have the answer. I can only build and hope for the best. An outsider can point their finger and say, “Why can’t you just find more data, interview more users, make this prettier, and that more precise?” I did the same too in the past, but I’m slowly learning to be okay with experimenting, not theorising. Simply try, and see if it works.

This letter is not one to throw in the towel. It’s to explain why I had built On This Day (I Told Myself). For months, I’ve been looking outwards at what the world wants, but forgot to look inwards to ask what I like. I like to build cute things. I reflect through writing. (My guilty pleasure is my fountain pen collection.) So I’m taking a few days off from building what I think other people will be interested in, and just building a time capsule where I can write a note to my future self. To remind her to be gentler and kinder to herself. To remind her that she has grown so much by stepping out of her comfort zone. To remind her that failures are only lessons that she will learn from. To remind her not to compare herself with the single moment of glorious success she sees because who knows how many times they have failed before that.

It’s ok. Just breathe.