Dear Present Day Self:
You’ve got a birthday coming up, which means it’s the perfect time for some reflection on who you are and who you want to be. Knowing that you’ll be doing this, I’m going to make a suggestion to you: stop annoying your future self, OK?
See, Future Self gets really annoyed when you do things that are selfish, Present Day Self. Remember that time you were too tired to make up the coffee pot before going to bed? When Future Self woke up the next morning, she was pissed. PISSED. She groggily came down the stairs only to find no java waiting, which meant she had to figure out how to put everything together while half asleep and still suffering from blurry sleep-induced vision. That wasn’t very nice of you.
There are lots of other examples, it’s not just about the coffee. When you decide to be lazy on a weeknight so you can play around on your computer, Future Self gets stuck cleaning the bathrooms on her day off. And those bills that Past Self in college put off paying? You got it: Future Self got stuck with them.
It’s inevitable that you’re going to let people down. I’m realistic and I understand that it’s going to happen. But letting yourself down gets really frustrating and I know you’re better than that. The next time you look at something you need to do and debate about putting it off, just take a moment to think about how that’s going to make Future Self feel. I promise you, it’ll be worth the effort.
Sincerely,
Me
