Dear Future Me,
I hope you are well. This is you, at 22, writing a blog post to inquire about your life, tell you about mine, and perhaps motivate you to do bigger and better things than you’ve already accomplished, to always strive for more.
First, do you still drink three teas a day? I don’t think it’s good for you. Sometimes, the caffeine makes you nauseous. When this happens, I hope you still hydrate and take (*dramatic gasp*) a few days off tea.
It is 2016 and I am about to graduate from UTM. I feel conscious of time, because I remember graduating from high school like it happened last night. I remember wearing tall black heels and a leopard-print A-line dress and shaking hands with the principal at Brampton Centennial Secondary, receiving an Ontario Secondary School Diploma to-go.
Four years later, so much has changed. My friends, my personality, and my values and beliefs have evolved. I am definitely a more confident, grounded individual than I was in my first year of university, thanks to my involvement on campus, all of the people I have met, my 1.5 to 2-hour commute, amazing and awful experiences with mental health, my social life, and, surprisingly, my job in customer service at Lastman’s Bad Boy in first year. I’m sure each point on that list gives you a distinct flashback to university life.
And here I am now, unmotivated in my home stretch of classes and unsure of my entire future. I don’t even have a solid plan for the next few months of my life after exams. And there you are, all-knowing of what’s going to happen to me in the next few years.
Do I find full-time work immediately? Does it take me months? Am I good at being in the workforce? Do I have a life-changing idea for an entrepreneurial venture? Which of the friends I have now will I still have then? Will I meet my new best friend tomorrow? Are there any theatre or writing programs in my near future? Are you reading this while you are traveling the world? Am I going to win the lottery to pay off my OSAP??
I know, I know: you don’t have an old white DeLorean to travel back in time and give me answers. If I know you, you wouldn’t, even if you had one.
Although I can’t have all the answers, I do see a few aspects in my future that I hope hold true (please check off as you read):
- I’m taking care of my parents
- I’ve learned how to cook seven-course meals (cereal does not count)
- I have a beautiful modern condo and car,
- good health,
- an easy-to-access workplace,
- a few cats,
- and YouTube fame
I am so grateful to be able to aspire to these few goals, and I know that you have worked hard to get where you are in the future, preferably with that entire list checked off.
If you’ve had any failures or shortcomings, I hope you have picked yourself up gracefully and dealt with them. If you succeed, please celebrate every time.
Ultimately, I hope that you and the family are happy and healthy in all of the chapters of my life that are about to unfold after I cross that stage and throw my hat in the air—the part about the hat being a very important milestone.
