The Art of Writing Letters to Your Future Self
By Kamil Mir
A letter to your future self is a time capsule of the person you are right now. Here is how to write one worth reading.
The practice of writing letters to be opened in the future is an old one. Time capsules, letters to adult children, notes sealed and dated for a decade hence. They share a common impulse: the desire to speak across time.
What to Write
Write about what you are worried about right now. What you hope for. What you believe. What you cannot imagine changing. Be honest about your fears and your ambitions. The most readable letters, opened years later, are the ones that reveal the writer as they truly were — not as they wished to be.
The Things You Take for Granted
Describe the mundane with care. What your morning routine looks like. What your home smells like. What you eat for breakfast. What the view from your window is. These details will be extraordinary in ten years.
Letters to Your Children
Consider writing a letter to each of your children at milestones: their first day of school, their eighteenth birthday, the day they leave home. Seal them and give them on the right day. These letters have a way of becoming among the most treasured objects a person owns.
Preserving the Letters
A letter is fragile. Consider scanning your handwritten letters, printing multiple copies, including them in a memory book. The future reader will want to see your handwriting as much as they want to read your words.
Write it down. The person who reads it may need it more than you know.