I can’t believe I’m finally getting to write this blog post on how to write a letter to your future self.
I want it to be very educative, detailed and have a comprehensive breakdown of what a future self letter embodies for best effect.
Writing a letter to your future self follows the same course and pattern as you would write a letter to a loved one in a far away land. Write a letter on a sheet of paper – Seal and sign it – Post it off – and the recipient receives it.
Only that in this case, you are not actually ‘posting it’ but keeping it in an easy to reach but not easy to see place for your beloved future self to read and smile.
Before the advent of technology which have of course made our lives easier by saving us so much time, letter writing was a form of communication from one person in point A to another person in point B. One of the reasons for sending letters is the out of reach situation and distance between the parties involved.
The distance between our present self and our future self is the timing and in our letter, we will be enunciating all the amazing activities we hope to encounter that will lead us to our future self.
It is going to be a very fun ride so please come with me!
THE FASCINATING THING ABOUT WRITING A LETTER TO YOUR FUTURE SELF
One of the fun things about writing a letter to your future self is that there are actually no rules, and because there are no rules, your letter can be all over the place.
Which is why I’ll be outlining basic things to check when you are writing a letter to your future self to put in a bit of structure into your writing.
Before you write a letter to your future self, it is always wise to create her in your imagination. Who is she? What does she stand for? What does she look and feel like? What are her values and beliefs?
These questions are very necessary because it helps you address her accordingly and appropriately. Not in a mundane official way, but in a place of appreciation and knowing that she has attained a much higher personality than where you currently are.
Writing a letter to your future self is a repetitive activity because as we attain a particular future self, we create a new one. You can write a letter to your future self 1 year from now, 5 years from now and even 10 years from now.
WHY YOU SHOULD WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR FUTURE SELF
One thing I love about writing a letter to future self is how specific it can help us create the life that we desire.
Everyone wants a better, nice and brighter future, but what are the specifics!
Things like;
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where you want your future self to be (an actual physical location)?
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how many kids would she have?
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what will her family and home life look like?
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how about her career or business – what does those look like?
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how much money does she earn or can easily make?
Questions like these can set you thinking and makes the writing more visual and fun to do.
It is up to you to decide how far you want to go in the future, and writing a letter to your future self is an opportunity to visualize that and put it in writing.
As far as your eyes can see it and your mind can conceive it, the future can be 6 months away depending on how willing you are to put in the actual work in to make it actualize.
IMPORTANCE OF WRITING A LETTER TO YOUR FUTURE SELF
After writing a letter to your future self, one of the emotions that comes flooding in is that of empowerment!
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You will have this urge to go out and conquer your world.
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Another benefit of this exercise is a renewed mindset
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Also, your goals and vision becomes clearer and more solidified.
One of my favorite quotes by Rumi about taking the bold step is “as you start to walk on the way, the way appears”. This is so true especially for people that are taken by fear. Once you take that bold step, every thing aligns and begins to fall in place.
Writing a letter to your future self is that push you need to take the steps of doing those things that will lead you to your beloved future self.
THINGS TO SAY TO YOUR FUTURE SELF
Imagine you are meeting a new ‘close’ friend for the very first time. Truth is that in reality, you do not want to spill all your inner secrets or desires. That would be telling too much and of course that might be a turn off.
But now in this case this new close friend is you, and your secrets are of course safest with YOU!
What are those things you would love to say?
Remember your future self is the older and more experienced you, so see her as a big sister, older friend or even a mentor.
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Tell her about the people in your life, your friends, who they are, what they are like and how they make you feel.
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Talk about your family members, your kids, how old they are, their special attributes, quirks, likes and dislikes.
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Talk about your relationship with your spouse, what it is like and areas where you seek growth.
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You can also talk about your finances. If you are broke, please talk about it, and ways you intend to deal with the situation.
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Talk about your business and career, where you are currently and what you plan to do for the future.
When I wrote a letter to my future self, I included my subscriber count on YouTube and my current page views and sessions for my blog.
I want to read this letter in the future and smile on how far I’ve come, and not the vice versa.
You see…this is an automatic boost to help you become more focused in prioritizing your personal growth and development. No one wants to meet a future self that is not better off than their current self.
WHAT ADVICE WILL YOU GIVE TO YOUR FUTURE SELF
Be as truthful and sincere as you would want a friend to be. Who knows, this advice might just be what your future self needed at that point when she opened that letter to read to herself.
This advice can be something like ‘I’m rooting for you…I know you’ve got this’…and who knows, your future self might be preparing for a very important presentation, and just reading those words from her younger less experienced self can be all the encouragement she needed to soar and ace her presentation.
You see what I did there!
BE AUTHENTIC IN YOUR WRITING
You are writing this letter to yourself albeit your future self. So don’t try to be too formal or impressive.
Write it in a relatable way that even if your future self has outgrown, she will still be able to look back on and be reminded of the growth and the journey thus far.
Include the date you wrote your letter, pen down your signature as a reminder of how important the words therein are, and write a date that it should be open (This should be written on the outer part of the envelope)
Keep it in an easy to reach place but not so easy to see place and set you a reminder on when your letter should be open.
You can also send a digital copy of this letter using Futureme.org. It is completely free. All you have to do is write your letter and choose the date when you want it to be delivered to your email.
Personally, I’m a very traditional and old school person, and I love the concept of paper and pen letter writing.
However, I would recommend you have it in digital form and schedule a date that it should be sent to your email as back up so that when and if the physical letter is compromised, you always have the digital one to fall back on.
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
Writing a letter to your future self is a good way to plan for the future.
Like I said, you do not want to meet a future self that is worse than your present self. It is never my wish for any one of you.
So to make sure that this does not happen, putting plans and structures in place for how the course of your life will go is very pertinent to meeting a more glorious future self.
Imagine you are reading this letter and you are all smiles with a heart full of thanks and gratitude. I believe this is what we all want.
This is the point where you pen down your hopes and thoughts for the future.
Please make it as positive as it can be.
You can write something like this – “In 2033, I hope that I would have mastered my self discipline and built an unshakable routine into my life”… Just penning that down alone sparks this motivation that helps you to work toward that dream.
Final thoughts!
If writing a letter to your future self sounds like your thing, then I definitely recommend you go for it.
Doing it occasionally at intervals of your life is a fun way to track your progress and milestone, and a sure way to look back on your life and be thankful for how far you’ve come.
If this post is something that benefits you, do well to share with your friends using the share button and don’t forget to leave me a comment telling me what your thoughts are.
If you also feel I missed out on something very important to this discussion, leave a comment down below let’s rub minds.
See you in my next one friends. Stay blessed!
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