Do your future self a favor and write yourself a letter to open this time next year.
It’s a common exercise, but a beautiful gift. It’s a way to project out goals and set your intention for the year ahead.
We have done this for the past few years in my job. At our annual planning offsite each year we open a letter that we wrote to ourselves from the year before and compose a new one for the following December.
The letter talks about how this next year will go . . . or how this next year went. We write to our future selves to reflect on the year ahead as if it has already happened. Though in the context of my job it’s supposed to be around professional goals for the coming year, I usually include personal milestones as well.
In the letter I opened this week that I composed last December, I wrote that “you have created this year” as a perfect precursor to my 2019 word of the year, Create. And I have. The letter is intended to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, the good kind.
My letter for December 2017 (written in December 2016) started with “Honey, you are going to be okay.” 2016 was a rough year and the letter that followed was a pretty beautiful, self-compassionate pep talk and reflection that matched very well with how 2017 went.
I’ll write my letter for 2020 by tomorrow and I’m honestly not sure what I’ll tell my future self. This is the time of year I try to get more reflective and plan for the year ahead, but I haven’t quite found the right picture yet. I think writing this letter will help me find more clarity.
If you’ve never done a future self letter before give it a try this year. Write one to open next Christmas or New Year, or write one to open on your birthday. They really do feel like a gift.
With Love,
Natalie