Have you ever written a letter to yourself? I do this every year around this time. It’s a real fun exercise, because the things that keep us busy now, might not be in a year time. Our hopes, dreams and worries change over time and sometimes even our entire life situation. We might move to another place, relationships change over time and we go through a whole lot more change in a year time than we might give ourselves credit for.

For instance, I’ve been writing passionately about one of my greatest hobbies lately: videogames. I consider myself somewhat of a videogame historian and I love knowing much about the industry, how certain games were developed and one of my main interests is the evolution of videogame music, which is why I decided to write blogs about videogame soundtracks as well as other deep dives into certain games that I really enjoyed playing. Last night I told Bren that I would love to write a book about the history and evolution of videogame music sometime. Who knows, maybe in a year time that idea will be more concrete, but I’m also planning on finishing a brand new scifi story in the upcoming year. The thing is, you can only call yourself a writer if you actually write, like I’m doing now. 😉

But back to the letter I wrote to myself and why I do it. As I said in the first paragraph, it’s a fun exercise, because you think about the things that are important to you now and you want to ask your future self how things are going then. The most important thing is that you’re sincere with yourself when doing this. I’m sharing this letter with you today, so you can see what I wrote down and maybe it can help inspire you to try it yourself sometime! Now, without any further ado, here is the letter:

Dear Jeffrey,

How’s life? Are you still doing that writing thing that you love so much, but keep putting off whenever you get the chance, or are have you finally found a way to break the cycle of procrastination, and have you maybe even finished that new Kevar novel you keep talking about? How about finding a publisher for your Dutch novel ‘Stempels’? How’s that been working out?

Are you still working out in the gym 3 times a week? I know it’s been an important item on your list, and I was really proud of you when you finally took steps to get a subscription at the local gym. I just hope you’re pushing through, as I know you can.

I hope you’re still happy with Bren and the kitties and that life in general is treating you right. It would be nice to know if you managed to be allowed to keep living in your current house for the time being. I know you have plans for the future to buy something of your own, maybe a tiny house, or a lodge, or something closer to nature. Maybe there’s even some concrete plans for it by now?

How’s the new lifestyle treating you and did Bren and you finally come around to sharing a whole lot more about it on your blogs? I really hope you two are fighting the good fight and helping others change their lifestyle for a better future and healthier planet. The importance of changing our behaviour and reducing our carbon footprint to zero is too big not to share what you guys are doing to make a change. Many small changes make for one big change, after all.

I know you vowed to ask your friends and family how they are doing every so often. Is that going all right too? Sometimes just asking a person how they are doing can be so important to them. It’s important to spend some time every day to do this. Not only for their benefit, but also your own, because deep down I know you just want those people who you hold close to be happy and to see smiles on their faces.

In any case, I hope you are doing what you love and that you are still in good health, surrounded by the people and cats you hold so dear. Life can throw us some real curve balls, but I know you’re up to the task. Most of all I hope you’re staying safe and healthy and that the COVID-19 pandemic has become more manageable.

Love,

Jeffrey

What do you think? As you can see I’m describing several of my hopes and dreams in there. Things I really wish for those around me and myself, of course. I hope this inspired you to try and write a letter to your future self sometime! Please let me know in the comments below!

Happy writing!

~Jeffrey