Aruna Week 15: By Me and For Me
One of my favorite traditions is to write letters to my future self at certain times in the year.
If you haven’t heard of futureme.com, it is a website that does just this. Write whatever you wish, choose a delivery date, and the platform hides the letter from you until the specified date, when you will receive an email containing the letter. I am aware that many choose to do this with old-fashioned pen and paper, but I do not have the self control to stop myself from reading what I have written prior to the specified date, so the online platform it is.
There are three points at which I write these letters:
At the beginning of each school year, I like to write to myself at the end of the school year. These letters usually involve me describing my worries about whatever I believe makes that school year particularly frightening and telling my future self that she deserves to celebrate herself.
In turn, at the end of each school year, I like to write to myself at the beginning of the next school year. This usually turns into me patting myself on the back, and then it evolves into a pep talk for whatever next year holds.
And at the end of each calendar year, I solicit predictions for the next calendar year from my family. These involve predictions about each family member as well as current events. This letter becomes a list of various predictions. Some seem obvious in hindsight, while others are clearly out of pocket.
I try to write these letters in one sitting so that I can easily forget them afterward. If I remember what the letter says, it ruins the magic of anticipation and the authentic reactions of reading words that may have faded from my memory but I still know are mine.
The consistency of reading and writing letters at certain times of the year deepens the reflection and visioning that often takes place at these beginnings and endings. But even between these key dates, sometimes, it occurs to me that I am waiting for a letter yet to deliver, and I find myself wondering what it could contain. But, of course, I wouldn’t know. Those are memories to uncover at a later time.
I also sometimes find myself reading those old letters and returning to the memories of my past self’s beliefs, fears, and hopes. This reveals just how much has changed about myself and the world around me, but there are certain aspects that remain the same—I will always express fear, and I will always express hope. This tradition is not just about communication and reflection with myself, but also a history of kind words I write about myself. This is evidence that my past and future selves are both looking out for me—one making the decisions that brought me where I am, and one looking back with pride. And if that isn’t comforting, I don’t know what is.
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| Image Credit: https://www.futureme.org/blog/how-to-write-a-letter-to-yourself-in-the-future-memories |
Hi Aruna! It was really nice to read your blog since I think it really expanded my view. When I was younger, I used to frequently write in my diaries about things I’ve done and I found them really fun since I got to spit out all the thoughts and emotions I had been holding onto on paper. As I grew older, I grew less motivated to write about my memories and stopped altogether. This was mostly because I never really had the time to write, and I had forgotten that I had the power of letting out my inner thoughts in this way too. However, I still find them really fun to go back and read since I think of this as form of lasting memories that I can keep with me. It was just as you said, even though you don’t remember doing something, you know that those memories are still yours. In fact, your blog prompted me to try doing this right away and I actually spent a good half an hour writing to my future self about things I have done and wish to do and it really did feel nice! I hope to work with you more in the future!
ReplyDeleteHi Aruna, this actually sounds like a very fun activity and a great way to record your memories to look back on. I have always searched for a way to write small diaries for myself but this website seems like a great option for me to use. Honestly, it seems to be very interesting to look back on your predictions for the school year or calendar year because so much can change between the start and end. I know for a fact that if I had written a prediction for how my junior year had gone, I would have been totally off and the only thing that is accurate is the fact that I have met so many new people and made lifelong friends. It must be so fun for you to look back on your own predictions and laugh at what you were so wrong about or congratulate yourself for being right on. Overall, I love how interesting this activity is and your blog did a great job at describing the impact it has on you and your memories.
ReplyDeleteHi Aruna! This little tradition you have sounds so interesting. Although it isn’t exactly the same, I used to keep a variety of journals in elementary school, and I come across them every now and then after cleaning. Seeing old recollections of my past self is always such an interesting process to go through. Similarly, I’ve always wanted to write letters to my future self, but I always forget to do so. Maybe I’ll finally do it for my senior year! The way you do it, however, sounds especially special, and super fun. Doing it in three sections makes it a much more intricate process. I imagine that reading something that you wrote so long ago brings forth a plethora of memories and emotions. Going through them is such a unique form of self reflection, a literal relic of yourself from the past. I absolutely love the way you phrased your feelings about this tradition at the end of your blog, the way your “past and future selves” both being there for you is such a lovely way to look at it. Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Aruna! I really loved and enjoyed reading your post about tradition. It's such a beautiful way and an intentional way of connecting yourself across this time. I especially loved how you structured this way of speaking and expressing how you approach these traditions especially the way you write letters at three meaningful points in the year. Your post made me really think about how rarely we pause and acknowledge how far we have come or cheer ourselves on what is ahead especially now that we're juniors and we're almost done with our junior year we're starting college applications which is a great achievement for us we have survived. I might actually start writing to my future self now thanks for the inspiration that you have passed down to me.
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