A Love Letter to My Future Self
“Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.” – Christopher Germer
I had 30 minutes before I needed to pick up my kids. Just enough time to do… what? Scroll my phone? Lose myself in a rabbit hole of nothingness? That was the tempting option. The easy one. The one that would have felt good in the moment but left me feeling a little drained, a little empty, a little annoyed at myself later.
Instead, I thought about my future self. The one who would walk through the door later, kids in tow, the day stretching behind her, just wanting to sit down and exhale. I knew she wouldn’t want to walk into a kitchen with dishes waiting. She wouldn’t want to have to do a hundred little things before she could actually rest.
So, while my matcha latte was heating up, I decided to help her out. I put the dishes away. Just a few minutes of work, nothing grand or life-changing, but enough to clear a small obstacle from her path.
And later? She—future me—was grateful. She came home to a clean-ish kitchen. She didn’t have to wrestle with the dishes before she could sit down and breathe. She could just rest.
We talk a lot about self-care like it’s this big, luxurious thing—spa days, getaways, elaborate rituals. But sometimes, self-care is just doing something now to make life easier for yourself later. Sometimes, it’s choosing what will actually bring peace instead of what just feels good in the moment.
Scrolling might have felt like a break, but I knew it wouldn’t actually leave me feeling rested. But putting away the dishes? That was a small act of love for the person I’d be in a few hours.
So here’s to looking out for our future selves. To making little choices that say, I see you, I’ve got you, I want to make things easier for you. Because at the end of the day, we deserve that kind of care—from others, sure. But also from ourselves.
What’s one small thing you can do today for the you who’s coming next?
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