Notes to My Future Self

14 Apr

Posted in Playful Dance, humor by Roger 1 Comment

(Inspired by this post from Punch Debt in the Face, wherein he writes a note to his future self, I’ve decided to do the same, and address myself ten years into the future. The Fuuuuuu-tuuuuure! *Waves my arms around to indicate that we’re traveling into the future.*)

Hey, 37 year old Roger,

Look at you, rocking middle age. Or have life-extending treatments advanced so much that you’re still considered a young whippersnapper? Regardless, you’re probably married, with children, hopefully with a well-established career and free of all the worries and doubts that seem to plague me, your younger self.

I have so many questions I wish I could ask you…What kind of job do you have? What kind of house do you live in? Are you still blogging? Is anyone still blogging, or did blogging get replaced by some other method of communication, like live Internet ? What are the computers like? Have you become part machine? Did the machines take over? (It already seems that way, although if you remember back to 2010, they were largely idiotic.) Has ANY of the cool technology that sci-fi writers have been promising us since the 1950’s come to pass, or am still waiting on my flying car, fusion generator, and vacations to Saturn’s rings?

I could go on, but unfortunately, this is probably going to be a one way communication. (Although, if you got your hands on a time machine, you could send me a list of advice; or better yet, come back, pick me up, and we could visit my seventeen year-old self and give him some food for thought.) Just because I can’t get messages from you, though, doesn’t mean I can’t share some thoughts with you. So here’s my advice to you, my ten-years-into-the-future self:

1) Love Your Wife: If all goes according to plan, you should be gearing up to celebrate your eighth wedding anniversary with Sondra in 2020 (on Halloween, if she has her way on the wedding date). Remember to love her and cherish her every day, and be sure to tell her whenever possible. Be sweet, loving, and kind, just as you always wanted to be.

2) Love Your Children: Again, if all goes according to plan, you should have had the one or two sweet little girls you and Sondra are hoping for well before 2020. Of course, given your luck and the tendency for unexpected things to happen, you’re probably raising an entire basketball team’s worth of rowdy, sports-loving boys. In any event, I hope that you remember to love and cherish them as the wonderful gifts that they really are. (No matter how crazy they may drive you some of the time.)

3) Enjoy Your Work: I’m not sure at all what kind of work you’ll be doing. Maybe you’re continuing to work in the Quality Control field I got into; maybe you’ve managed to turn The Amateur Financier into a financial dynamo and excellent source of money; maybe you are a successful businessman in some other field. So many different possibilities to explore; that’s why I have to remind you that if you aren’t enjoying your work, you shouldn’t keep doing the same old thing. Life is too short for you to do something you hate; there’s plenty of opportunities, and you should take advantage of them.

4) Give to Charity: It’s probably too much to hope for that in a mere decade or so, all forms of human and animal suffering have ceased to exist. (Although, I’m perfectly willing to be pleasantly surprised on this point.) If not, I hope that you’ve been steadily giving to those who need the money more than you. You are very, very lucky, although it might not always seem that way, and giving what you can, when you can, is good for yourself as well as others.

5) Lead a Happy Life: This should, I hope, go without saying, but sometimes the struggle and hassle of day to day life is such that we forget to enjoy ourselves along the way. No matter what the future looks like, you have plenty to celebrate and enjoy, from good friends to loving family. Just take a few moments every day to reflect on how fortunate you are, and remember to laugh as often as possible.

That’s it, my future self. I hope that all of this advice is stuff that you’ve already been doing for the past ten years and have committed to heart half a decade ago, but even if so, it’s worth repeating them to remind yourself (or myself, I suppose) of how good life actually is. Good luck, my future self, and keep working well!

Roger (Age 27)

P.S. If you want to show your gratitude for all the helpful tips, a return note with next week’s lottery numbers would be appreciated. You know, just a friendly thank you between two versions of the same guy, that kind of thing.

P.P.S. Unless doing so would get you in trouble with the Time Police; I don’t want you to spend time (heh!) in a time jail because of something I will have had done in the future.

P.P.P.S. Unless the Time Police don’t give a care (or don’t exist); in that case, send those numbers on back!