A Letter To Your Future Self
By: Brooke Phelps, LCSW
With all the unanticipated changes over the last year, many of us have learned how to live in the moment or practice radical acceptance of uncontrollable changes in ways we may have never anticipated. While flexibility, resilience, and the ability to adapt to these changes are certainly invaluable strengths, the unpredictability of the past year may have caused some of us to lean away from some of the more future-oriented/planning tendencies we used to rely on for informing our decisions in the present.
As we enter in the Spring season, and keeping with the spring theme of renewal, or rejuvenation, writing a letter to your future self may be a great way to integrate all that we’ve learned about ourselves over the past year with our long-term goals for the future. This can help us stay motivated and hold ourselves accountable to what we want to see from ourselves in the future. Choose a future date (six months, one year, five years, ten years – you decide!), and seal up your letter in an envelope until that date arrives. When writing a letter to your future self, here are some points to consider to help make the most of this activity:
· Using a self-assessment tool such as a “wheel of life” can be a helpful starting point, as this encourages you to consider your satisfaction/happiness in different areas of life on a scale of 1-10. This is most similar to a pie-chart, of sorts. Categories might include Family/Friends, Personal Growth, Health, Fun/Recreation, Finances, Career, Physical Environment, and Romance. Using a visual assessment tool like this can help us see areas we feel more/less fulfilled, thus where we may want to spend more time/energy fostering happiness. The idea is that our “wheel” is as close to a circle as possible, it may be beneficial to write about some specific ways you hope to increase or maintain satisfaction/happiness in particular areas in the future.
· Tell your future self a bit about your current self – What are you into? What is work/school like right now? Who are your closest friends? What is your biggest fear? What recent challenges have you overcome? What are your greatest hopes for the future? Starting with the present allows us to gain perspective on our current reality, and this will one day provide a unique snapshot of the past. Also, you can refer back to the categories mentioned above to help identify specific goals in various areas of life.
· Reflect on the recent past and present from a strengths-based perspective. A strengths-based perspective allows us to shift our mindset into only seeing the strengths we possess or uphold. What qualities or traits do you possess that you are most proud of? What challenges have you overcome and how did you manage to do so? What do you value most in areas like work, school, relationships, or wellness? Considering these questions can help us gain insight about what is truly important to us, which may also highlight areas we unintentionally spend more time/energy than we would like, allowing us the opportunity to reprioritize our time/energy to the things that we value most.
· Hold yourself accountable! Not only does writing a letter to your future self serve as a thoughtful way to connect to the present, it also encourages us to carefully consider the timelines in which we hope to achieve certain goals. Thinking of this activity as a way of planning in reverse helps us take notice of when and how we intend to accomplish certain short-term steps towards our long-term goals. In day-to-day life, we may fail to consider the steps we can (or must!) take in the present to work towards those ends.
Writing a letter to your future self offers the benefit of “planning backwards” which encourages us to be more intentional with our time and focus on what incremental progress we can make in the present towards our long-term goals for the future. Time flies, and planning for tomorrow starts today. Make the future you proud!