A Letter To Future Me

I see a lot of essays titled What I Would Tell My Past Self. As nice as it would be to hop back in time to 1999 and tell teenaged me that everything is going to be alright, unfortunately, thats not possible. Thats why when my 30th birthday rolled around, I decided to write a letter to my future self.

An introvert to the core, I spend more time observing my surroundings than actually taking part in them. I notice how frequently people respond to the question How are you? with a day of the week: Im okay, its Wednesday. Birthdays are met with a groan and some version of Another year older. As Geneen Roth puts it, conversations have become a mutual exchange of complaints.

My letter to Future Me goes a little something like this:

Dear Future Me,

Hello from the past! If you are reading this, that means you are still taking breaths so be grateful for that above all else. I hope that all of our dreams have unfolded exactly as planned, but of course I know that life usually has something else in store for us - so in case things havent worked out the way we wanted, I wish to remind you of a few things.

1. Never stop celebrating. In the past, I always loved to celebrate my birthday. And every year, there were always people who told me Just wait, some day you wont want to celebrate your birthday any more. I remember thinking how terrible that was maybe you dont like the fact that youre getting older, but what can you do? Some people arent lucky enough to get older.

2. Every day of the week is special. Please dont be hateful of Mondays, or Tuesdays, or any other day of the week. Every day cant be the best day, but every day can hold something special.

3. Remember that its never too late to change your course. Stay hopeful and optimistic that whatever life has brought you, if its not what you want, we can turn it around. As a Health Coach I see people every day, all ages and from all walks of life, change their destiny. You can start over again at any time.

4. Dont complain. Complaining will get you nowhere but tired. Its a drain on you and the people you are complaining to. Just relax; this too shall pass.

I plan to open my letter in ten years when I turn 40. I also included a list of goals and dreams I have for my future. Im very curious to open up my Future Package one decade from now and see where I landed in relation to where I thought I would be!