I am a transfer student here at UNT. I transferred from the University of Florida after spending my freshman year there. It was an experience to say the least. One day, I stumbled across a website called FutureMe.org. This website allows you to send an emailed letter to yourself as far into the future as you wish!
That day in the union I decided to write a letter to myself. I think my intention was to see where I was in the past, and how I have improved as a person in the future. The results were genuinely surprising.
My first year at UF were actually so hard. I was not adjusting well, and I didn’t have many friends. I felt so alone and like the walls were closing in on me. I went to counseling, and it didn’t really help. Some weeks I didn’t leave my dorm or speak to anyone. I had some highlights, but for the most part, I was miserable. So that day that I discovered FutureMe, I wrote a letter to myself pouring out everything that I was feeling. I gave the future me advice and set goals in hopes that I would be able to say that I did them.
After reading the letter a year later, I cried harder than ever because I was in a better place in my life. Of course, I still had plenty of growing to do, but to see that I improved even the tiniest bit made me happy. I was so happy that I decided to write another letter to myself. I think at that moment it became a tradition that I decided to have with myself. I saw it as keeping tabs on myself.
I say this to say that it is so important to keep tabs on yourself in whatever way that may be. You can write physical letters to yourself or have them emailed to you in a year, three years or even five years. I have learned so much about myself, and how my views have changed over a matter of years. Past me has even given me some solid advice to hold on to.
If you decide you want to write letters to yourself, here is the link.