My Letter to Myself

This last week I wrote an email to my future self. Gmail has a feature that lets you schedule the email to be sent at a much later date. So 6 months from now I will receive a letter from myself encouraging myself and asking what I’m up to and whether I have accomplished any of the things I set out to do at the beginning of the year.

So I am encouraging you to do the same thing. It’s really fun. And there’s no reason why you can’t also write an email that you’ll receive a year from now, or 3 years from now. This way you’ll be able to track whether you really are making progress, and be thankful for all of the amazing experiences you could not possibly have predicted would happen to you in the meantime.

The Illusion of Self Delusion

We often think we are exactly the person we have always been and will always be. But this is a major misconception. Think seriously about the person you were even just 10 years ago. Go through your social media feed and find photos, posts, or journals you wrote back then. That is not the same person you are today. Your personality changes over time. Your wants, needs, and ideas about the world change. Hopefully you’ve grown and matured as a person. A lot can happen in the course of just 3 or 4 years.

Some of us have been through catastrophes that we could not have predicted, and come out stronger because of them. Some of us have received all of the blessings we prayed and hoped for, but never took the time to acknowledge or be thankful for. So now is the time to do that. Appreciate just how many of your dreams have become realities.

Reading One Article Can Change Your Life Direction

Reading journal entries are especially fun. Sometimes I find notes on little inspirations for projects I wanted to do from years before. What at the time just seemed like a crazy idea has since then become a life changing reality. For me personally, I found some notes I wrote down after reading an interview of Shigeru Miramoto in the New Yorker. For those of you who don’t know, Shigeru Miramoto was the lead game designer for Nintendo who created Donkey Kong, the Super Mario Brothers, Zelda, and many of our favorite games and nintendo consoles. In those notes I wrote down some terms I’ve never heard of before like gamification. This was before I had ever even considered ever designing a game. Which is weird, because since then I have produced multiple educational games, a world leader political science megagame, and successfully Kickstarted a Bible Study adventure game. I became a game designer after reading that article.

What have you accomplished that you never would have imagined 10 years ago? What will you accomplish in the next 10 years? Things come to those who ask. Seek and you shall find.

Time Travel

Time travel is possible. Don’t believe me? Just play some of your favorite music from when you were a teenager and scroll through your oldest facebook profile photos. Then open up your email and write a fanboy email to your favorite person in the whole world. You. Write it like you have reached your favorite person in the whole world, your hero, and write as if you were their biggest fan. In your eyes they can do no wrong, because you believe in them.

Inspire Your Elder

Who knows, maybe by the time you read this letter you will have turned into a jaded grizzled old has-been who is stuck in a rut and given up on their dreams. Like the old saying goes, “The older I get, the better I was.” Perhaps what you really need is to have a naive young person remind you of how much potential you have.

Cheating Death

If you like this idea then I have another far crazier suggestion. Again I myself have already done this so I highly recommend it. Write your own eulogy. None of us want to die, but that day is coming and of that you can be certain. There’s no escaping it, it’s just a matter of when. Since this is the case, wouldn’t you like to attend your own funeral? No matter what you think of the afterlife, we can all agree that whether we are there or not, no one will be able to hear what we would have to say. Or would they?

Write Your Own Eulogy

Get out a sheet of paper and write down the speech you would like to give at your own funeral. Say all the things you would like to say to your loved ones. Comfort them and assure those who miss you. Give them one last kind gesture to remember you by. Leave it in a place where it can be found should you suddenly not be there to point it out. This is one little way we can cheat death.

An Important Note on Self-Love

Lastly I want to make one thing clear. None of this will do you any good if you allow your inner critic to keep hating on yourself. Self-love is one of the single most important ingredients of a delicious life. We are not talking about narcissism, vanity, or arrogance. It is about becoming the king of your own unique individuality, and appreciating that you truly are the only you in all of the universe. You are not perfect, but the fact that you can learn and grow and even surprise yourself is a wonder to behold. Think of a toddler who stumbles when learning to walk. Have mercy on yourself and never give up on yourself. You should always have at least one person backing you up, and that is, you, yourself.

So write yourself a letter of encouragement and write a eulogy saying thank you to everyone who meant so much to you. Appreciate the help others have given you by first acknowledging yourself. Treat yourself like the adorable little learner that your friends, mentors, teachers, and creator sees when they admire your progress.

Whatever you do, don’t delay. You never know what the future will bring, and we often forget how far we have come. So let’s broaden our perspective and remember what matters before we start another day.
You can find notes on today’s lesson and see many great ideas at www.BestClassEver.org