What is a letter to your future self? It’s a message written now but intended to be read by you at a specific future date. It often includes current observations, hopes for the future, questions, and guidance you want your future self to consider.
And how does it help you with your weight loss goals? Because letter-writing activities challenge you to think about who you are, who you were, and who you want to be. Writing letters can be not only emotionally freeing, they can also help you think critically about how you want to live your life now. And writing it down makes you accountable in ways that wishful thinking just doesn’t.
A Letter To Myself
The concept of writing a letter to yourself might seem unusual at first, but it’s actually a powerful tool for self-reflection, personal growth, and emotional healing. It creates space for introspection and connection with your innermost thoughts and feelings. Something you’ll learn much more about on our Re-Creating Me Premium Programme.
As Dr. James Pennebaker notes, “When people write about emotional experiences, significant physical and psychological health improvements follow.” His studies have shown that even 15-20 minutes of expressive writing over a few days can lead to meaningful improvements in wellbeing.
The Letter to Your Future Self
Writing to your future self is an exercise in hope and, more importantly, intention. As such, it’s a powerful weapon in your mental toolbox. It’s about creating a time capsule of your current mindset while setting aspirations for who you want to become when you’ve lost your excess weight. Think about what you’ll want to hear, what your thoughts, hopes and fears were, and how you plan to make your life different once you’ve reached your weight loss goal.
Future-focused writing helps clarify your values and goals, as well as fostering a sense of optimism and, “I CAN do this.”.
What Should You Include in Your Letter to Your Future Self?
- Where do you hope to be five years from now? (or less if you prefer)
- What personal qualities do you hope to develop?
- What accomplishments would make you proud?
- What wisdom would you like to remember, even as circumstances change?
Tips on Writing a Letter to Yourself
Start by simply answering these questions.
Dear future me
I am…
I have…
I will…
We can…
And to make the most of this reflective exercise, here are a few more tips:
Be authentic: Write with honesty and vulnerability. Your letter is for your eyes only, so there’s no need for pretence or filters.
Choose your timeframe carefully: Decide when your future self should read this letter. Five years is a common timeframe, but if you want to make it much sooner, that’s fine too. It’s your letter.
Date the letter: Clearly mark when you wrote it for context when you read it later.
Be specific: Include concrete details about your current circumstances, challenges, and aspirations. These specifics will be most meaningful to your future self.
Ask questions: Pose thoughtful questions to your future self. Are you still pursuing that dream? Did you overcome that fear? Have you maintained that important relationship?
Include guidance and reminders: Share wisdom or advice you want your future self to remember, especially during difficult times.
End with encouragement: Close your letter with words of hope and belief in your future self. This isn’t just wishful thinking, it’s a declaration of possibility, a statement of faith in your capacity to change. When you write to your future self, you’re engaging in an act of both reflection and projection. As such, it’s a powerful tool for personal development. You’re creating a bridge between who you are now and who you wish to become.
And put it somewhere safe, but take it out and read it from time to time to check how you’re doing or when you need a little reminder of your WHY.
FAQs
How to Start a Letter to Yourself?
Start with addressing yourself (“Dear [Your Name]”), describe your current life situation, share meaningful reflections, include hopes and intentions for the future, ask questions you’re curious about, and close with encouragement and affirmation.
How to End a Letter to Yourself?
Conclude with words of encouragement, affirmation, or a meaningful quote. You might also include a specific question you hope your future self will answer when reading this letter.
How Long Should a Letter to Yourself Be?
There’s no set length for a letter to yourself. It can range from a single page to several pages, depending on what feels right for you. The most important factor is that it feels meaningful and complete.
What Should You Write in a Letter to Yourself?
Include your current life circumstances, meaningful experiences, hopes and dreams, fears and challenges, questions for your future self, wisdom you want to remember, and encouragement for the journey ahead.
How Writing a Letter to Your Future Self Helps with Your Weight Loss Goals
Writing a letter to your future self can be a surprisingly effective tool for supporting weight loss goals.
#01 Creates Emotional Investment and Accountability
When you write a letter to your future self about your weight loss journey, you’re creating a personal contract. This written commitment helps establish emotional investment in your goals, making them feel more tangible and important.
The letter serves as a form of accountability that works differently than external accountability (like telling friends or working with a coach). This internal accountability connects directly with your personal values and aspirations, which research suggests can be more motivating for long-term behaviour change than external pressure.
By articulating why weight loss matters to you personally – perhaps for health reasons, increased energy, or improved self-confidence – you strengthen your internal motivation, which is crucial for sustaining effort through challenges.
#02 Offers Perspective During Difficult Moments
A letter to your future self can serve as a powerful reminder during challenging times in your weight loss journey. When you’re feeling discouraged or tempted to abandon your new habits, reading your earlier words can reconnect you with your initial motivation and determination.
In your letter, you can specifically address the challenges you anticipate facing, and provide encouragement and strategies for overcoming them. This can be a valuable reminder you’re your willpower is low or when progress seems slow.
The letter becomes a voice of compassion and wisdom from your past self, helping you maintain perspective on short-term discomfort versus long-term goals. This perspective shift can be crucial for making consistent choices that align with your weight loss objectives.
#03 Helps You Visualise Your Success
Writing to your future self requires visualising who you will become and how your life will change after achieving your weight loss goals. As you’ll know from our Hot Topic Lemon exercise (if you know, you know) your imagination is powerful. And research in sports psychology and behavioural change indicates that vividly imagining success helps create neural pathways that support achievement.
Your letter can detail how you expect to feel physically and emotionally after reaching your goals, the activities you’ll enjoy, and how your daily habits will have transformed. This practice helps shift your identity from someone who is trying to lose weight to someone who naturally maintains healthy habits.
By writing about your future self as if these changes have already happened, you’re engaging in a form of positive visualisation that can make healthy choices feel more natural and aligned with who you’re becoming, rather than feeling like deprivation or punishment.
PostScript…
Writing letters to ourselves bridges our past, present, and future selves. As you embark on this reflective journey, remember that you’re engaging in a practice that’s helped countless individuals gain clarity, perspective, and self-compassion.
And when you feel you’re at the place of being the”‘future you” it might be nice to re-read the original letter and write back to the “previous you”, telling them what it’s like, and how you’re enjoying having fulfilled your dream. You can read Diana’s letter to her previous self here.
As poet Rainer Maria Rilke expressed so beautifully, “The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.” Your letter to your future self is your way of consciously participating in that transformation towards your new lighter life. So why not grab a pen and paper and get started!
