Dear Future Me

/ Jodi

Dear future me

Dear 73-Year Old Jodi:

I’ve written a letter to us in the past before (Dear 13-Year Old Me), but I thought it might be fun to write a letter to future us this time.

It was one thing to look back and give wisdom to young Jodi, even though we couldn’t do anything about it “then,” but what would I like to say to the future Jodi 20 years from now at 73 years old?

53 is a good age.  How is 73 treating us?

At 13, I thought 53 was ancient, but guess what?  It really doesn’t feel that way.

Nick asked me just last week, when time turned  the number up a notch to 53, how it felt to be 53 years old.  I think he expected me to complain about getting “old,” but I surprised him (and hubby, who literally laughed out loud) when I told him it felt pretty darned great!  “53!  It’s the number to be,” I said smiling and raising my arms as if I’d won an Olympic gold medal.

Do we still feel that way about being 73?  I hope so.

Right now, I know that on the inside, we are still the same person  at 53 that we were at 43 or 33 or 23 or 13 or 3.  Who cares if the skin is a bit saggier, we have more wrinkles, more gray hair, rounder bellies?!  We’ve earned it!  If we made it this far, we have had the privilege of experiencing and enjoying every other one of those numbers, so let’s not waste our life wanting to go back to them.  Let’s embrace right now and what the present offers us.  We only get one chance – 365 days – to be this age – so let’s make the best of it.  Let’s use all the experience and wisdom we gained in the last 72 years to make this the best year yet.

When you read this, dear 73-yearold Jodi, lift your arms in victory, smile, and boldly declare, “73!  It’s the number to be!”

Love,

jodi christmas eve 2015

53-year old Jodi

 

 

 

 

Have you heard of FutureMe.org?  Apparently it has been around since 2004, but I’ve just learned about it.  According to their site,  over 4 million letters have been written to the future by people just like you and me.  Wouldn’t it be fun to receive a surprise letter from the past you some day you choose in the future?

Usually it is the future that will reflect back on the present, but FutureMe.org decided to flip that around based on the principle that memories are less accurate than emails.

So why not give it a go?  Send your future self “some words of inspiration, or maybe a swift kick in the pants!”  “Share some thoughts on where you’ll be or what you’ll be up to in a year, three years.. more?”  FutureMe.org will do the travel magic and deliver the letter (via email) to you – Future YOU!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

53 thoughts on “Dear Future Me”

    • Totally agree, Greg – even now I look back and read posts I wrote a year or so ago, and it is so interesting. I hope these somehow stay alive long into the future for us to be able to access. Who knows what future technology will bring? Will blogs be as antiquated as letters?

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  6. Hi Judy, I have a friend that does the same, but she writes it and send to herself by mail, so she has the post office stamp with the date too. She keeps the letter in a pretty box and only open in the day she wrote in front of the envelope. She does it 3 in the years. I thought to do the same, it will be fun. I’ll check this site to see how it works.

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  7. Hello 53 year old Jodi, you are beautiful. As someone who is only 6 years away from 73, I can say that life is very good further down the road! It only gets better everyday! Just think about the art that will transpire in the next 20 years. Will we still be blogging, LOL!

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  9. My only fear in the aging process is losing myself, the person I have worked so hard to have grown to be. I wrote a piece a little while back, in the hopes of reminding myself the senior I had hoped to become. Not sure if you saw it but it was a fun post to write, called Note to Self – A Guide to Self Preservation in My Senior Years. Here is the link if you would like to have a read:

    https://lymart.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/note-to-self-a-guide-to-self-preservation-in-my-senior-years/

    Cheers Jodi!

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  11. Jodi, dear, this has to be the best thing I’ve read and will read today…perhaps the whole year! I’ll be turning 52 this year and I absolutely love this idea…not just because it’s a great idea to help one love one’s age but also because my mom, her sister, and my MIL all died shortly before their 72nd birthday, and if I write this letter to my 72 year old self, I want to ensure that I will live to at least my 72nd birthday to read it. 🙂

    ❤️

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  12. I’m closing in on 70 and life is still awesome! With all you accomplish now, Jodi, there’s no reason to think you’ll slow down any time soon ~ or ever. Happy Belated Birthday!

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  14. Love your attitude sistah! 💖👍😍 I will be 55 at the end of Feb which seems hard to believe! I’d like to think I’m more open-minded than I used to be. Just ordered 2 new pairs of eyeglasses today – one pair is totally artsy fartsy! Something the younger me would have never done! Cheers Jodi! 💐😎👍🌈

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  15. Jodi, what a great idea, futureMe.org. In another 20, I’ll be 96…I’d probably have the same wise & positive thoughts about life that I do today. And I’d hope to be as physically active. Happy living day to day! Chryssa

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  16. What a nice thought Jodi! I’m happily living in my 50 “space” and just taking it day by day. Hope to have the same feelings towards the years ahead. No anxiety or whatever those uncomfortable feelings were at 30 and 40…actually they were more like 25, 38 and 40, 50 was fine.

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  17. I had a friend who kept all the letters I mailed to her when I was in college (long, long ago, when you had to write actual letters rather than send an email) and she gave them back to me after I graduated, so I could see for myself how I had matured during those years. It was such a nice gesture, and similar to the letters you are writing to your future self. It helps keep the aging process in a positive light, since we can see how much we’ve gained instead of always focusing on how much we’ve lost. And I tend to agree, in the end, what we’ve gained is worth it!

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  18. This is wonderful, thanks for sharing it, Jodi. I will sure write a letter to future me. 😊 And I really loved your letter. I can´t understand all the people wishing to be younger again. I turned 39 in December, and I´m much happier now than I was with 29 or 19. I would never want to turn back time. It´s so nice to find exactly that feeling in your letter to future you too! ❤️

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  19. Great post, Jodi and I love the future.org site.
    Aging is an interesting process that becomes more interesting as the years go by. I’m 64 but I never think of myself as that age. Occasionally I feel a little different physically than I did at 24 but it happens…:)
    Your attitude will keep you at 23 for a lot of years, my friend.

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