As we get older, it’s not uncommon to look back at our younger selves and want to pass on the knowledge we’ve gained to our mini me’s. One tradition I’ve picked up, however, is the exact opposite. Instead of reflecting back on my younger self and wanting to write that version of me a letter, every year I write a letter to future me.

About eight years ago, I wrote my first letter to my future self near the end of the year. I had just turned 20, and I felt like my whole world was about to change. After a semester abroad in London, I was making the leap to move to New York, finish my last year and a half of college at NYU, and take on life in the big city, as well as a hefty school loan. I had no idea where I would work, if I would have friends, how I would be able to support myself. My parents were proud but also nervous about me ditching a scholarship and close proximity to move up north. It really felt like I was going out on a limb, and I think I wanted someone to reach out to reassure me that everything would be okay.

In every letter to myself, I try to reflect on the last year and note what it’s meant to me. I want Future Me to remember what she’s accomplished or what she’s overcome, from getting my first play produced to fighting for a job promotion/raise. I acknowledge heartbreak and exhaustion, the years where I worked 7 days a week with no respite for months, the bad dates, the mourning of dreams deferred with the unexpected shifting expectations. Sometimes I say these things directly, sometimes they are implied. But often, when I revisit these letters a year later, all these things come rushing back to me, a year unfolding before me like the patterns of a kaleidoscope.

I try to give Future Me comfort. I reassure her that she is in the hands of a smart, self-assured lady who is willing to fight for her until she takes the reigns. I tell her the goals I hope to meet for her– I never try to have expectations, but rather include one hope for her, one big idea that will push her a little bit: one time it was to find love, no matter what that meant, last year it was to narrow my life-focus. I tell Future Me that wherever she is, I am proud of her, and often I end up opening the letters to myself a little in advance of my birthday, just because I know that message is there and I need to hear it.

The post Why I write letters to my future self appeared first on HelloGiggles.