A Letter From The Self

A letter arrived in the mail to my parent’s house, a house that was once my grandmother’s house. I wrote the letter as a writing exercise at a writing retreat five years ago. It was addressed to my future self, and the idea was for them to hold onto our letters and mail them to us some five years later. In the letter, I made a series of promises to myself, some of these are now hilarious or obsolete, but some came true. It was proof to me that where we place our focus shapes our life. But, what struck me more than anything, was a list of questions I wrote for myself to answer upon reading the letter, right now. The questions are these:

Are you proud of who you are?

Do you love honestly?

Do you remember what brings you joy?

Do you still find that joy?

Have you told your mother you love her today?

Did you ever end up living in a new place?

Could you still now?

Did you write the book?

What is something you would ask your self to remember five years from now?

These questions stand as a reflection of who I was then, what I hoped to become, and also who I have always been.

So, I am sitting down to write this morning and answer these questions. I will tuck these away and in five years from now do the same. I am adding a few questions to my list, for next time.

I invite you to do the same. Use my list as a starting point, but also add your own questions. Answer them today, and then tuck the list and your answers inside a beloved book or journal to revisit years from now. If there is someone you really trust ask them to hold onto these and give them back to you in a few years. Sometimes the questions we ask of our future self are even more telling than the answers.

Enjoy.