Why I Write Letters to Myself

Honestly, when I first heard about writing a letter to your future self, I thought it sounded a bit silly. Who needs to write letters to themselves?

But I tried it anyway. I wrote a short letter, scheduled it for a year later, and pretty much forgot about it.

Then, exactly a year later, it arrived. I sat there reading it and my eyes welled up. Not because it said anything tragic — it was just that the person who wrote it felt like a completely different version of me. I was thinking about different things, worrying about different things.

What did I learn?

A few things stuck with me from that experience:

First — time really does fly. We all know this, but there's something different about reading your own words from the year before. It hits differently.

Second — the problems that feel enormous today might not even cross your mind a year from now. That's actually kind of comforting.

Third — people change. I changed. And that's a good thing.

What should I write?

Nothing special is required. I usually write about what's going on in my life, what I'm thinking about, what's bothering me, what's making me happy. Sometimes I write about goals — I like to look back and see whether I followed through.

I don't try to write beautifully or say anything profound. It's just for me anyway.

If you've never tried it — give it a shot. Even just one short letter. You'll see what it feels like when a reply comes back to you from the future.