Question: A Letter to my Future Self

[Paul Whybrow]

I’ve mentioned Seth Godin several times in posts and Thought for the Day. I enjoyed reading his book The Dip, which taught me the wisdom of knowing when to give up on a defunct project.

His newsletter is thought-provoking. Today he talks of communicating from where you are now to your future self:

A letter to your future self​

We often send metaphorical letters to our past selves, berating the choices we’ve made. We express regret about missed opportunities or past mistakes. It’s easy to blame our younger selves for the mess we’re in.

What would you say to your future self? And how would you feel when you read that letter in a few months or years?

Maybe you’d discover that the crisis or cataclysm you’re facing right now didn’t turn out quite as badly as you feared. Maybe you’d express some optimism that you could turn into action. And maybe you’d develop some empathy for your past self, who was just doing the best you could.

This struck home to me, as I’m currently feeling like I’m floundering without power or a sense of direction as I attempt self-promotion via social media, especially Twitter. My letter to my future self is short and cribbed from Winston Churchill:

What would you write to your future self?

 

[Hannah F]

What's for you won't go by you, but it can take its time coming. Sometimes you just have to be patient while cutting the distance by keeping on struggling towards it.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I'm feeling a lot like you these days @Paul Whybrow. Had a conversation just last night with my husband about whether I should just give up the writing and go back to full-time work ... we came to no firm conclusion.

Anyway, what I'd say to my future self is really the same thing I've been saying to my current self for the past 20 years--the only way out is through.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Alanis Morissette wrote your theme song, @Robinne!

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Great song! I hadn't heard it before.