I've been writing to Future Me every birthday since I was 17. I'm now 32. In my very first letter written at age 17 and addressed to the college version of myself, I urged myself to resist peer pressure, keep making art, and maintain my innocent nature.<p>As the years went on, the letters alternated between despair and hope. The letter writer turned into a pothead, then an alcoholic, then an alcoholic pothead who couldn't make art anymore.<p>Many of the letters described long, meandering walks through New York City through eyes that didn't feel part of reality, in a body that was always outside of the circle.<p>After years of ache for love, a relationship blossomed, then spoiled; an anticipated marriage never materialized, and then the whole thing collapsed died. The letter writer fell very ill, left the city, then started all over in a small town.<p>I got my last letter a year ago. That person seems a lot closer to the person who wrote that very first letter. That person makes art again. Spends most of their time in nature. Is back in college studying something entirely new. The pothead and the alcoholic and all the toxic relationships are long gone. The slate feels washed clean.<p>There is a sense of innocence returned. Joy, excitement, hope for the future. Gratitude for the all wisdom accumulated between that first letter and the most recent.
Starting at 16 years old I wrote a letter every birthday to my 30 year old self with ideas of who I want to become and how I ought to judge my success. I hoped when I turn 30 to open all of them up and realize how much I accomplished would be satisfying.<p>Through the project, I actually discovered two things. First, I estimated a rate of progress that exceeds the real possible magnitude of accomplishment by about two lifetimes. Second, that the storylines I want in my life and the opinions I have about them are stable across time, even if they are dormant for many years in a row. Whether this is the effect of personality or an ability to maintain memory beyond the capacity of attention I don’t know. But then again, maybe those are both the same thing.
I’ve been using futureme for over a decade.<p>Best use I’ve found is for when I have a huge decision to make. I’ll email myself at some time <i>after</i> the decision must be made; right when I might be having regrets. I explain to my future self how hard it is to decide right now and why the correct choice isn’t clear. Usually with some encouragement of “I hope you know we made the best choice we could”<p>Of course, I also send some occasionally on birthdays or when I’ve just give through something dramatic — a reminder to future me to remember.
My letter never came. :( I spent ages writing it and describing my feelings and what I planned for my future. I had detailed my improvement plan for 10 years. Randomly I remembered this service and was disappointed since I didn't receive the email.
I've done a similar thing using calendar events in the future.<p>It's easy.<p>Just open up your calendar app to a date like 5 years from now and type away.<p>This derisks the possibility that the "future you service" goes under, taking your cherished letters with it.
This is a really cool idea! That said, after I sent a letter to my future self, it automatically signed me up for several email lists, tried to get me to download the app, and pestered me to become a "member." No site like this needs any of those things.
After a 4-week backpacking trip (via NOLS), you're given the opportunity to write a letter to yourself that they would send to you in the future (can't remember how long, maybe a year). After 4 weeks of living out of a backpack in the Alaskan mountains, your perspective changes. They knew this and wanted you to give yourself a reminder of that perspective after it has faded back to the complexities of normal life. You really develop a different, and imo healthier, mindset about life.
I highly recommend doing this. I also highly recommend not doing it digitally.<p>I recently came across an email I'd sent to myself a decade ago. It was a serendipitous find and could've easily been lost for all time among the 100K emails floating around. But the process of writing it is worth it, and the reading of it some time later can be deeply rewarding.
The most interesting aspect of this is the public anonymous letters [1]<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.futureme.org/letters/public" rel="nofollow">https://www.futureme.org/letters/public</a>
Inspired by this, I built a way to send you a PAPER letter in the future. Check it out!<p><a href="https://dearfuture.carrd.com" rel="nofollow">https://dearfuture.carrd.com</a>
Dear Future Me,
Do not open the portal. I RePeAt Do NOt OPen... F̷̝͉̹̀͆̓͛̅̀̐͘͠ͅŏ̵̼̺͈̼̱̠̤̬͔̳̥̩̿̈̄̒̂̿̾͜͠͝r̸̢̧̗͕̮̫̝̤̤̥̮̃̈̈̿̋̊̕ ̶̙͚̞̣̿̌͐̈̿̔̊̃͆̆̅͗́̆͂t̵͖̎̚h̴̡̼̲͕̳͈̮̿̉̂͜͜ͅȩ̸̺̦̗́̈́̿̈́̾̾̀̇̾̎̊͆̕͠ ̵̢̟̫̲̯͚̯̫̼͚̜͉͑̋͂̄͘͜ĺ̸̰̭͓̟̬͚̹̺̅̉͌̏̀̊̽̔͒͑̍͑̆͝ǫ̸̡̡̩̻͙̬̥̳̭̹̭̲̿̂̀͛͊̇̏̆̅͂̊̍̀̂̔̊̌v̴̘͈͉͈̖̤̠̗̘͍̘̱̰͕͉̲͙̓̓̕ḙ̴̡̛̥̹̣̱̝̭͍̇̂̾͘͘ͅ ̵̲̰̪̥̠̅̂̈́̾̑͒̈̌͛̿̌̇̾̑͠͠͠ǫ̶̡̡͖̖̭̣̗͖̳͇̻͔̱̑͊̊̇̍̓̕f̷̥̳̲̭̥̹̯̩̪͎̫̓́,̴̛̤̟͍̖̟̭̥̤̳̹̮͙̪̫̅́̾͛̾́̀̊̚͝ͅ ̷̧̢̛̫͇͍͔͉͉͖͕̙̄̄̀͛̒̽̑̋͆͊̅̂̏͒̚͜d̷̬͈̐o̷͈̦̗̰̾͋̂̄̎̆̿́͒͌̋͑͘̚͝͝͝ ̴̡̡͉͕̥͔͍̟̼̬̗̯͕͂͐͆̊̋̆͝͝n̸̡̟͖͍͓̹͙̟̥͈̥̪̠̒̐̒̒́͗͌͝͠ǫ̷͕͈̘͈͙͇͙̫͈̖̓̾̿̈̔͒̂̒͛̍̃ͅt̶̨̫̰̯̫̥̥͚̤̱͍̮̞̼̠̆͑́͗͛͐̑̐̃͘͜͝͝ͅ ̸̡̢̗̱̜͖͇̀̒̀̂̿͆͛̐̆͆͘͝õ̸̻̭̤̮͎͙̜̣̤̫̊p̶̫͎̯̮͉̬̯̻̰͉̗͎͆́́̓̃̚ę̵̛͇̍̆̇͐͌̈̏̍͆̔̈́͌̋́ń̴̝͉̼̱̯̜͍͚̬̬̠͕͕̊̕͘͝ ̸͔͋͆̀͒͑͐̇t̶̜̝͚͉̤͚͈̮̯̾̊̎̃̋̽͌̈́̑̋̚̚͘̕͝͠͠h̷̪̳͎̭̬̣̘͍͂̂̀̽̓̅̓̇͘͘e̸̛̝̾̅́ ̵̧̧̛͎̗̱̬͎̺̋̋̉̈̿̿̽͗̈́́̚͘͠ͅg̷̠̍́â̶̢̨̼̝̙̯̣̯̗̬͖͛̀t̶̢̰̪̘̘̭͔̲͐́͛̿̈́͌̇͐͘e̵̪̮͈͙͕̥̫̫̒̌̎̓̅̅̎͌̈́̀̓̂͑͘͝w̶̧̲͚̪̜͓͈̩̭̦̻̯̩͔̑̂̓̋a̶̘̱̥̺̣̭̳̳̫̦͙͇͐y̷̢̤̻̲̝̜̗̥̼̝̻͔̰̭͌̏̐̒͊͋̚͠
This is something you can do at the post office at Burning Man.<p>If you write to someone in the city, someone will deliver your letter/card.
If you write to someone outside the city, they will pop it in USPS in Gerlach.
If you write to someone no longer living, they'll deliver it to the temple.
If you write to your future self, someday, someone may put it in USPS.
I love this idea. My high school our english program had us write letters to ourself 10 years in the future. Such a joyous surprise when that teacher actually sent the letters 10 years later.<p>I wonder though - How is this different than journaling? Doesn't a written record from the past you can refer back to in the future accomplish the same goal?
I did this once and the resulting message was incredibly depressing so I don't think I would do it again. For me there is no value or point in engaging in such actions. It's probably only worth it if you have a positive outlook on life.
Over the course of 13 years, I wrote 365 Future Emails to my 2020 self, one for each day of the year. It was pretty interesting to see myself "age" in fast-forward like that. The first handful of letters were pretty lame -- very short, lolsorandom-style stuff. Towards the end I was using it more like a journal, often writing many paragraphs per email.<p>What did I glean from it all? I don't know. It wasn't as mindblowing as I had hoped, frankly. Mostly I was struck by the sad reality that I had failed to predict what would be interesting to my future self. It reminded me of how, as a teenager, I had filled many pages of my journal talking about an MMORPG I was addicted to, rather than how I felt towards my siblings, or my spiritual beliefs, or a funny joke I heard at school, etc. Another sad irony was that the older I got, the more I wrote -- but when I read the letters, the more recent they were, the less interested I was in them. I wanted to read thousands of words written by my 15-year-old self, but all I got was a few sentences. Oh well. Maybe those longer passages will be interesting to 40-year-old me.
I have done it with the past self (no I don't have a tachyo-something anti-telephone, just a theoretical exercise). You can look at the obvious mistakes you have made. How much more could you accomplish or get out of life if you just applied those few paragraphs of instructions. Then look at it and wonder, in 10 years from now what kind of letter would I write to my present self, what obvious things am I missing now...
The way I journal, I have a bash script that looks for today's date in past years, and opens them alongside the current entry.<p>It was fascinating when I started doing it because before it, I didn't really think about future me reading past entries. So it has shaped how I journal, and it has also made me journal more often, because I don't like the days where there's no past entries to read.
Cool and simple. Animal Crossing also has the ability to send letters to your fellow villagers (who might also be real people), including yourself. And as far as I can remember, you can specify an arbitrary date in the future.
Penning a letter to your future self is a deep dive into self-reflection and personal growth. It acts like a time capsule for your current thoughts, hopes, and dreams, creating a bridge across the years. This exercise lets you track changes in your life, aspirations, and mindset. It provides insights into your personal development journey, showcasing how challenges were tackled and goals shifted. It's a special way to document your life's journey, offering a moment to reflect and renew your sense of purpose. I love this idea.
There's a calendar that will show you how many months you have left.
<a href="https://www.bryanbraun.com/your-life/months.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.bryanbraun.com/your-life/months.html</a><p>Making a plan to make each month count is something I thought about recently. Something to remember each month by.
It's a big enough chunk that you could for example take a trip somewhere, lose 10 lbs, or learn a new skill.<p>It's a bit of a change of perspective to think of your life in terms of months.<p>Kind of like not to think of the world as countries, but inter connected cities.
Ha, made me immediately think of one of my favorite songs!<p>Future Me Hates Me, by The Beths<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVImwSb4EYU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVImwSb4EYU</a>
I sent myself many emails in the last 15 years with Futureme. I am reading the sad times and remember how I felt those days. It also fascinated me how much I improved in 15 years; mentally and financially. There were some about loved ones' cancer treatments and every year the letters got more depressing. Hopes diminishing in emails feels very strange. Regardless of what it made me feel I recommend this to my friends. I write myself every few yes with it.<p>Also, their Cron scheduler must be working its ass off. God knows how many are waiting to be sent out.
I sometimes think about the problem of sending a message to someone in the far future such that they'd be guaranteed to receive it, regardless of their location on earth or attentiveness to the arrival time of the message.<p>It's a fun creative thinking exercise.<p>You can 'cheat' a bit by thinking of ways of sending a message such that ~everyone on earth would get it at the delivery time, including the intended target. But personalizing the delivery (thus adding privacy) makes the problem far, far more difficult.
One of my favorite websites!<p>I do similar with just THOUGHTS. I send my future self a thought, often a question, and I get the answer albeit vague and difficult to decipher. Then when that time eventually comes, I answer my past self because at that moment I am receiving the past question. I know this sounds weird but that's fine. I'm not able to get any answers past ~10 years from now which is kind of unsettling, but I guess we can't live forever.
I address my journals to my future biographers. I also maintain a Spotify playlist for my biopic's soundtrack. And I leave digital footprints for ingestion by future AI models.<p>A while of doing this has shaped my thinking generally. The tone moves along the serious-not-serious spectrum. I can speculate wildly and grandiosely about my plans and ideas from a <i>just joshing</i> or <i>just in case</i> perspective, and then reconsider them seriously.<p>Hello everyone!
As a kid, using this site or some other, I wrote an email to myself and received it some 15 years later. That was awkward. I don't really know that guy.
I personally write myself a letter once a year around new years. Covers what happened over the last year, my 3-5-10 year plans, goals, family/friends/health, photo of myself, etc.<p>Then the next year rolls around and I compare the current year to the previous year, see if I am hitting my goals & trending in the right direction. Helps me hold myself accountable.
Have been using futureme for a few years now. Getting a letter every January 1st is a nice way to understand my headspace from the previous year.<p>This coupled with my daily journal entries offers an interesting reflective process around the holiday season :)
Interesting that they changed back their business model. I used the service a few times but stopped when they started forcing users into a monthly/yearly subscription to write more than one letter per year or so.
People who sent them self letters into the future: How do you do it in practice?<p>Do you just mark the envelope with a year and keep your hands off? Is there a service the mail office offers?
"Your Future Self and Everyone With Access to the futureme.org Database"<p>At least that's why I've never used this service and never will, even though I think it would be worthwhile.
I used this once when I was working a shitty job to remind me about my situation when things were not so good.<p>I read the letter some years ago and I came a long way, financially and personally.
Reminds me of becoming a magician (2018): <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25024132">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25024132</a>
Dear future self,<p>I know everything looks bleak now but you must persist. You're much closer to your goal than I ever was.<p>Sincerely,<p>Your past self