(Photo:linh.ngân)

I first did this exercise in 2004 when I was in US, enjoying my summer camp (despite breaking my collar bone).

We were asked to write a letter to ourselves and this letter will be mailed one year later.

It was really cool and memorable to read your handwritten note to yourself. So much thing could have happened when you wrote that letter and when you read it.

It was a good exercise I thought and I implemented to my students in 2008.

To be frank, I do not know if they did receive and how they felt after receiving the letter.

I am going to do it again this year. So I google about the guidelines and found a website providing such a service for free. It’s called FutureMe.org

You can write a note to yourself and set the date you want it to be delivered to your email. Advancement of technology.

I found what I wanted on this website called OpenPlanner for the template of Write A Letter to Yourself.

1. Present: What is it about now that you want yourself to be reminded of, to laugh about?
2. Future: Describe how you imagine yourself to have changed, felt… How different would you be?
3. Looking Forward: Notes, Advice & Aspiration for your future self?

This statement is suitable for a class environment: “I promise you I will not read these letters! I will be collecting these and sealing them to return to you in two years.”
I pick up an important point: the way the letter is to be written must be encouraging and neutral.

Have you written letters to yourself and received these mails many years down the road? How was the experience for you? I would love to hear about it.