Skip to main content
HashnodeDaily Dev TipsDaily Dev Tips

Command Palette

Search for a command to run...

A letter to my future self 💌

Published
•5 min read
A letter to my future self 💌
C
Chris Bongers

I'm a full-stack developer from South Africa 🇿🇦. I love writing about JavaScript, HTML and CSS.

This is going to be an experiment, a letter to my future self!

Why? you might ask?

  • Thinking ahead how your life will look like in a years time
  • Nostalgia, imagine you reading this letter a year from now and reliving the past
  • A gift! The smile on your face when reading the letter
  • You might learn you suck at predicting the future 🤷‍♂️

If you like this idea, give it a try. Write a letter to yourself one year from now 💌

Writing a letter to myself

Dear future me,

I'm writing this letter to you to remind you what's truly important.

Do you remember the first time you realized it's not about working 60 hours a week but taking the time to enjoy nature?

You remember when you were sitting on a bench in a park and forced yourself to sit there for more than 10 minutes. You ended up sitting there for 5 hours inhaling nature and the beauty we called earth.

That's what's important, reflecting and taking the time to enjoy life.

I just had such a crazy but rewarding year, I got engaged, started blogging, and even got blessed with a new job during a pandemic.

I almost felt bad for being so rewarded during this crazy year, but it made me realize we define our own luck. It was me making these things happen, not faith, not a pandemic, but me! (and you).

I planned to finally switch to full-time remote work, with a bit more travel. The travel didn't happen I'll leave that up to you! But the full-time remote is checked!

Anyhow, just wanted you to know how life in 2020 was, let's talk about you!

By now you're happily married for half a year, and it must be such a blast. I hope you enjoyed the wedding and took some time to truly enjoy it, being there and setting your mind to it.

Knowing you, there was also a bit of blogging involved, but that's ok. Everyone knows it's what you love, and I do hope you still love it whilst reading this letter.

And wow you look amazing in those wedding pics, I can see all the exercising and healthy eating is paying off. You even love doing it and feel more energetic. Double-wins!

I do hope you got around to thinking about what you exactly want, I knew a year ago it was a question you couldn't truly answer, but who knows what a year might have changed.

Your initial goal was to travel more, see places, experience unique things, enjoy life. the year I was having didn't allow it, but you did better, I'm sure of it.

As for the blog, you're doing an amazing job, it's 584 articles ago you started this crazy thing, and I can't believe you made it!

Oh, correction you missed 3 days because of the wedding? That's fine buddy nobody expected you to even do this every single day for this long.

Anyway, I know you loved to read this, and know that you in return will write a letter to future Chris, tell him I said hi!

Cheers buddy, keep strong 🍺

Your past self,

Chris

Receiving the letter from myself

Thank you for reading, and let's connect!

Thank you for reading my blog. Feel free to subscribe to my email newsletter and connect on Facebook or Twitter

#personal#grid#mentalhealth-1#general-advice

Comments (6)

Join the discussion
I
Ibukun Ogunnaike5y ago

This is so beautiful Chris...Reading this reminded me of what is most important. Thanks for writing.

2
C
Chris Bongers5y ago

Thanks! So glad you enjoyed the read. Will you also be writing to your future self?

E
Edidiong Asikpo (Didi)5y ago

First of all, how did you get the picture of your old self? 😀 Secondly, reading this made me smile so hard and reflect on the importance of taking time out to remind ourselves about what really matters.

I dig this and would love to give it a try as well.

2
C
Chris Bongers5y ago

I use an app called FaceApp to make myself old haha. A pretty funny app actually.

Thank you, it is! I forget it myself sometimes hence I must write myself letters to remind me 😂 (No I actually do this a lot whilst hiking, just sit down for a second and think about importance)

I would really urge you to try it! Such a good experiment.

1
E
Edidiong Asikpo (Didi)5y ago

Oh yeah, FaceApp was quite popular some months back.

I agree. I should work on writing the letter this weekend hopefully.

A
Ayu Adiati5y ago

Beautifully written!

I can imagine your future self would smile a lot when he read this 😊

3
C
Chris Bongers5y ago

Thank you, Ayu!

It's so weird writing for yourself, and writing about yourself. Must say it was a super cool experiment and I liked it so much.

Are you also going to write to yourself as an experiment?

1
A
Ayu Adiati5y ago

Chris Bongers It crossed my mind, yes. I think I will write one my self 😃

T
Tapas Adhikary5y ago

Chris Bongers, Good One Chris. I wish you all the best and keep adding values to the dev community till you reach that old dude, for real!

3
C
Chris Bongers5y ago

I will, thank you Tapas!

Keep going until the grumpy old Chris writes a blog post.

"Back in the days when we still used JavaScript to make websites"

1
P
Piyush Sinha5y ago

Beautiful ❤️

There is nothing more precious than seeing oneself succeeding in goals set by our own selves.

C
Chris Bongers5y ago

Thank you Piyush, will you be experimenting with this letter to yourself as well?

1
P
Piyush Sinha5y ago

I'm looking forward to writing my version soon.

2
C
Chris Bongers5y ago

Piyush Sinha Let me know if you do, would love to read it

R
Rutik Wankhade5y ago

This is so beautifully written. ✌ Your future self will be proud of yourself.

3
C
Chris Bongers5y ago

Thank you Rutik,

I hope that grumpy old dude is going to like it 😂 All jokes aside, I do actually look forward to reading this in a year's time having forgotten about it.

More from this blog

D

Daily Dev Tips

887 posts

Looking to get into development? As a full-stack developer I guide you on this journey and give you bite sized tips every single day 👊