Although I am a personal development blogger by profession, I am in no way a mental health professional. See my disclaimer for more info.
Looking to write a letter to past or future you? Here’s my ultimate guide on how to write a letter to yourself for keepsake.
Have you ever written a letter to yourself? Chances are, you did something similar back in grade school. You were probably asked to write a special message to future you.
I always liked doing this because it was like I was speaking to a future version of me. Something about that intrigued me, and I always looked forward to doing it. The funny part is, I never saw any of the letters after I wrote them. I unfortunately will never see them, but I definitely enjoyed the process of thinking of what to write and getting all my thoughts on the paper.
If you’re reading this and thinking, “Wait — I’ve never done that before! But I sure would like to try!” then you’re in the right spot. I’m here to walk you through the entire process of writing a letter to yourself. Are you ready? Let’s get into it!
THIS POST IS ALL ABOUT HOW TO WRITE A LETTER TO YOURSELF.
Why should you write a letter to yourself?
You might be thinking, “Wait — why exactly should I write a letter to myself?”
Good question! Writing to yourself has tons of benefits.
The main benefit is that it allows you to sit and reflect on your life. Reflect on the good, the not-so-good, and every little detail in between. Self-reflection is key to self-growth — and writing to yourself lets you do just that.
Writing to yourself is a spiritual experience. During this process, you’re speaking to either a past or future version of you, which I believe is quite spiritual and healing. It’s one of the easiest ways to connect with your inner self.
If you’re looking to make some short- or long-term goals, writing to yourself is a great self-care exercise to do on a regular basis. You reflect on what you did in the past (or what you’re currently doing in life) and make goals based on those decisions.
These are just a few of the many benefits of writing to yourself! Now that you know these, it’s time to learn how to write the letter!
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How to Write a Letter to Yourself:
Step 1: Pick a time frame
The very step you want to do is pick a time frame.
Do you want to write this letter to your past self, your current self, or your future self? Maybe you want to address all three versions in one letter!
And guess what? It’s your letter, so you can do it however you want. Typically, when writing a letter to yourself, it feels natural to write to either your past or future self. Writing to your past self includes more self-reflection, and writing to your future self involves more planning.
Step 2: Think about what you want to include in the letter
Next, you want to spend some time thinking about what you want to include in the letter. There’s all kinds of things you can put in it. It’s really all up to you!
You can include things like:
- Your relationship status
- How you’re doing in school
- Short- and long-term goals
- How your day went
Don’t be shy to spend a good amount of time on this step. After all, it’s going to be the bulk of the letter, so you definitely don’t want to skimp.
Step 3: Create an ideal writing environment
Before you get to the next step, I want you to create an ideal writing environment.
What I mean is, move to a calm, quiet, well-lit place to write. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to write (especially something this special) in a crowded, noisy environment.
I like to write at my desk in my bedroom. It makes me feel productive and it’s a nice, quiet place. But for you, that space might be your bed or even the floor! Heck, I don’t judge!
Step 4: Write the letter
Now’s the time to start writing the letter.
This is another step where you want to take your time. It could take 30 minutes or even two hours to write your letter — and that’s completely fine! I encourage you to take as much time as you need.
You don’t want to rush it. What’s the reason to rush, anyway?
THINK: When was the last time you wrote a letter to yourself? Tell me in the comments!
Step 5: Save/send the letter
You’re not done just yet! When you’ve finished typing or writing your letter, give it a quick skim to make sure you’ve included everything you wanted to include.
After that, you’ll want to go ahead and send the letter.
If you physically wrote it on paper, do this: fold it, put it in an envelope, and store the envelope in a safe spot that you’ll remember. Then, whenever you want, you can go back and read the letter.
If you typed it on a device like your phone or computer, you can schedule the letter to deliver to you at a later date. This can be 5 years, 10 years, or even futher into the future!
There’s this awesome website called FutureMe. As the name suggests, it allows you to send messages and letters to your future self. I definitely suggest using this website.
They’ve sent a whopping 20 MILLION letters in the last 2 decades, so you know you can trust them with your special letter.
What to Include in Your Letter:
Maybe you have no idea what to include in your letter, and it’s preventing you from writing it. No problem — here are a few things I like to write in my personal letters. Feel free to steal a few of them (or even all of them!):
- The current version of you
- How you’re currently doing in every aspect of your life (mental health, physical health, financial health, spiritual health, social life, family life, etc.)
- Your goals
- Questions for your future or past self
- Advice for your future or past self
Let’s recap!
We made it to the end of the post!
Today, we talked about how to write a letter to yourself.
I hope this post helped you learn all about writing to yourself. It’s such a therapeutic and healing process that I feel everyone should experience!
Please remember to take time to take care of yourself!
I know, in this economy, it can be hard to find free things to do that are fun. That’s why I put together a list of 7 free self care activities to enjoy today!
In the midst of chaos, don’t forget to smile,
DeMarcus – your self care buddy
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