February 26, 2022

Dear Future Me, 

I’m hoping you achieved the goals I set out for myself. I hope you finally perfected crocheting and made one of those sweaters saved in my Pinterest board. I hope you learned that one song on the guitar. Also, it’d be cool if you become one of those girls who wakes up at 5 am and works out, meditates, journals, eats, and journals again all before sunrise. Basically, I hope that a year from now, you’ve got your life together. 

Love,

Rhea

One year later…

Spoiler Alert,  I still have trouble waking up for my 8:30’s. 

I’m sure we’ve all been asked to think about the question: “Where do you see yourself in a year, 5 years, and so on?” Whether it be in the form of a (deeply personal) interview question, a letter you write to yourself every New Year’s Day, or a time capsule you made in third grade, these prompts often consist of those goals you can’t accomplish in the present, but are a quest left for your future self. The letter may have your dreams, your wild aspirations, or the path you picture yourself going down. The capsule is heavy with expectations. 

I’m sure your 10-year-old self wouldn’t have pictured you being where you are now. Heck, even a month ago, I was expecting many things to go differently. 

The thing is, life happens. 

Circumstances occur that shatter our perception and understanding of ourselves. Accepting this, however, is very hard and there is no clear process that can make that journey any easier to navigate. Unexpected events can throw us off of our planned life track, and that includes what our life might look like in twenty years to what we wanted to accomplish last week.  

As university students, we operate in a constant routine. Our daily schedule is more or less planned out: from mandatory classes, to assignments, and social time. We are so invested in the concept of being productive that not having a plan is equivalent to lacking ambition or just “being lazy.” 

I am a victim to the ritual of planning. I like having deadlines, itineraries, and knowing what I’m wearing to that event months ahead. I even find reassurance in knowing exactly what I’m going to say in a presentation, so I practice meticulously for hours. 

But plans go awry. Deadlines get pushed. Winging that presentation may have been the best thing I could have done. To-do lists get in the way of seizing opportunities that were not on the agenda. Sure, the feeling of checking off boxes is relieving. But when things end up working out differently, it usually leads to something better than planned—trust me. 

Winging life in those moments when chaos is thrown at you may just be the key to feeling in control. Surrendering to the present relieves you of the binds of the future expectations that blind you to the achievements of the present. 

So write that letter to yourself 2, 5, or 10 years from now. Continue planning—I know I still will. But, let go of the importance of those plans and don’t feel ashamed to embrace life when they don’t occur. At the end of the day, everything that has ever happened and will happen is for the plot. 

Header by: Sadie Levine