LETTER TO MY FUTURE SELF

Dear Grateful,

I appreciate you immensely for your courage and passion to get better everyday I appreciate your personality, for if you look around you, you will find out how much of a unique being you are and not surprising, you have attracted the people of your kind to you.

You'd wonder why I started inscribing this letter with gratitude. This is so that when you meet this letter in the next twenty years, you will remember how I valued and admired you.

Before I narrow down to the nitty gritty of my inscription, I need you to cast your mind back to 29 years ago, when you were that timid, low self esteemed secondary school girl. You doubted everything you could be. You always compared yourself to others. You felt you were incapable of achieving anything all by yourself . You admired everyone else but yourself. You remember when you left secondary school with that pessimism. When you were literally depressed because you were unsure of what to expect from nor give to the world that stared at you like you were indebted to it. Pessimism was your second name.

9 years have passed from that moment to the time I am writing this letter. In case you don't remember, all of the things you doubted yourself on have become the things you are best at doing and you have understood that life can be understood backwards but can only be loved forward. For instance, you thought couldn't do much as a teacher, you couldn't influence people. Your motto then was "I can't command the obedience of people." Now do you remember how you influenced and inspired students in the tertiary institution? You were respected for your peaked dosage of value. Don't take that for granted. Do you remember how much you were later admired for your teaching skills that was unquantifiable and earned you awards and love from students, parents and staff? That is just one of the many things that you prayed for that were effortlessly done for. You didn't know when the transformation happened but it did.

Upon this inscription, you know you have become a poise and optimistic fellow. That must have taught you that your fears are not as scary as you imagined them and have proven that you can virtually become what you want to be.

Notwithstanding, I value your humility and eagerness to keep growing and improving in all facets of life.

In view of my passion for self development, there are goals that I'm set to achieve now that I'm still full of energy. Of course, no gold wants to go through the refinery process and return, unrefined. Hence, let me tell you what I am set to achieve before you meet me in the next 20 years.

When you'd be reading this letter, I expect you to be in a library. No, it's not that public library, I mean that well furnished library where every member of your family goes to and picks up a book everyday. Where you all spend your time after dinner making reviews and plans to get the library updated. It will be a beautiful moment to behold a family, reading together and sharing their takes on a book.

You know what traveling means to me. It is the adventure I wish to take in my lifetime. The places I want to explore are innumerable that I regret why I don't have the resources to do them. My not having resources creates the doubt that I actually love traveling because it is like having a hobby that you are incapacitated to do. How will you explain that your hobby is what you are not even doing?

However, all dreams and hope are still alive and I believe that in the moment when you read this letter, I must have traveled to at least three different countries.

There was a promise you made to yourself when you were twenty. You said, "one day, this reserved person will become a rabble rouser that will galvanize, leaving everyone who knows little in a gape." You don't have to worry . I am taking a giant stride in making that a reality and I am hopeful that it will be accomplished before this letter meets you, and when it does, you can look back and be proud of yourself.

There is one thing that everyone dreams of, I call it a unified dream. Everyone wants it because they understand how important it is. This dream is one that says yes to most things achievable because without it, you really can't do much. What I'm talking about is "making money." Money is the leading factor in our society today, so much so that you have no voice without it.

However, I don't want to see just making money as my dream. I want to make, using money to uplift others, disperse kindness, change people's lives, create opportunities and make people live at there best, my legitimate aspiration. I want to use money as a tool rendered to the voiceless. So, you see? I love money too. 

Even as I am writing this, I'm still not aware of what the world holds for me because the uncertainty of our tomorrow is one of life's basic realities. If we're too certain what the future will be for us, we would take the appropriate measures towards making the best plans that will land us our desired success. Since life is not projected that way, all we can do is to hope for the best while expecting the worst. However, it is obvious that achieving great success is inevitable for me because from all indication, I am building that future now and by the time I am through with the finishing touches, everybody will be alright.

I also have not forgotten that this is going to be a cumbersome, then futile journey if God is not the one ordering my steps. This is a tested and proven fact and I hope you will continue to to embrace God, especially when he keeps proving himself more in the long run.

Once again, I am grateful to you for being one to be proud of and remembered for all that is good but not perfect. Well, I used the "not perfect" because you are still in your refinery stage and you are coming out as that shiny gold that reflects goodness. Continue to be you.

Your younger self.

Grateful.