Dear Future Self,

(A sealed letter, written to myself, and to be read in November of 2021.)

Wow! Would you look at you! You have survived! Even your worst day to date. And no worse for wear! Congratulations. Remember all those things you thought would end up doing you in? They didn’t. Here you are reading this letter.

And look at all the things you have learned! See? Here is proof! No problem arrives without a gift in its hands.

Sure, you were stir-crazy while you were self-isolating, but you needed time to reassess what’s important in life. I must say you do love your distractions. As long as you have your chains of habit and your familiar routine, you’re fine. But you have to stop running between Point A and Point B long enough to figure out if Point B is worth going to in the first place. Did you stop? No. That’s why Mother Nature forced you to slow-down in the first place. You have to break out of your routine to see the routine.

Oh, you say your illusions about security have been shattered? Oh good. Now you can have healthy truth instead. And unnerving truth is far better than a comfortable delusion. But relax. Nothing is under control. And now you will remember to allow for monkey wrenches in your plans.

Did you take care of yourself this year? You are a human being, not a human doing. There is no health without mental health. You can reset, readjust, and refresh yourself as many times as you need to. No permission required.

Did you make time to be present in your relationships? Work is never-ending. But your life, your family, and your friends are not. Remember, at some point in time, you and your childhood friends went outside to play together for the last time, and you didn’t know it. Time is not guaranteed. Did you enjoy every moment with your loved ones this past year?

You say that you were only working hard because you were trying to figure out how to make ends meet? Maybe this next year, you could eliminate a few of those ends, so you have more time for the stuff that really matters. Count your wealth not by what you have, but what you can live without.

You decided to make some changes in your life last year in response to all of that thinking. Did you make progress? Did you think you might make it through this transformational year without transformation? Don’t let the space between where you are and where you want to be terrify you. Change is proof of life. How many mistakes did you make this year? Lots? Great. Here’s some humble pie. Take a slice. Humility is good for the soul. Don’t be surprised if all those prayers for deliverance from your circumstances changed you instead of your circumstances.

Wait. You found out that you have options? You discovered that even though you have always done things in a certain way, you don’t always have to do them that way? And you even found a new way? Wonderful! That’s creativity and innovation at its best. What else might you change up, eliminate, or revise?

You learned you could rearrange your schedule at a moment’s notice? Great! You never learn anything when things go as planned. Resilience and flexibility are some essential superpower skills.

You learned that the things you thought were important in life weren’t all that important at all? That some of the things that were canceled actually improved your life? And the truly essential things in life were not cancelled? And, you redefined essential? Super fantastic. The secret to joy and to having it all is knowing you already do.

This past year, you have bashed through walls, and kept right on going. Then, you went on to do things previously thought impossible! Look at you, Girl! Congratulations for living in the non-comfort zone.

Life pulled you back in 2020, but all the better to launch you into 2021. Next year will be even better. You have power to make it so.

The great take away from 2020? Life is impossible? Pshaw. 

With sufficient force, pigs fly just fine.

Wishing you all a wonderful Holiday Season! When we count our blessing, we’ll be counting you. Happy Thanksgiving!  

In pressure you have enlarged me. Psalm 4:1

And if you have the song stuck in your head now, listen to Fats Waller sing it here. (It will lift your spirits, I guarantee!)