In the spirit of lessons to my 15 year old daughter, I thought I should send some lessons 20 years into the future to my 61 year old self. Today, I hope I would be smart enough to take some advice from my 61 year old self. While I don’t know what she would tell me, here is what I would like to tell her.
Dear 61 year old me,
- If you haven’t learned to speak Spanish, do it. Now is time to learn something new.
- You are skinnier than you think you are.
- If you haven’t practiced yoga in a while, get on a mat. It always makes you feel so good.
- Your daily habits determine your health, and it’s never to late to establish new ones.
- Your daughter loves you more than you think.
- Love your grandchildren but don’t try to raise them. You raised the best possible person to do that.
- Your body may have changed but your heart hasn’t. Do what you love.
- You don’t have to get something done every day. Relax. Be more, do less.
- Keep wearing sunscreen.
- Love more deeply and give more freely.
- It really is true that the first two bites of dessert taste better than the rest.
- Eat more greens.
- Don’t spend even 5 seconds wishing you had lived parts of your life differently. You really cannot change the past. Move on.
- Help someone be more than they think they can be.
- Appreciate that man walking on the beach next to you. Not many couples stay as madly in love as the two of you have for 25 years.
- Now might be a good time to write a letter to your 41 year self and your 81 year old self.
- Keep creating, draw, shoot, write, paint.
- You look so good because you limited your sun exposure over the past 20 years.
- You feel so good because you don’t eat meat, drink milk or consume artificial sweeteners.
- Be grateful for every little thing and enjoy the ocean.
Love, 41 year old me
The insightful Raam Dev wrote a similar post with advice to his future self.
Awesome advice, Courtney! I loved doing this exercise and it was great to exchange links! 🙂
I love this exercise – especially with your light-hearted touch. Thanks for the inspiration Courtney 🙂
Thanks Nick!
Raam, not only did you move me to the core this morning but so did Courtney. THANK YOU so much for very powerful letters! I really do not even want to imagine myself 20 years from now – but I could so easily do the advice to my younger self…Thank you so much, I agree on the dessert and I am so glad that I have gone vegan even if for a few weeks so far :)!
Farnoosh, Congrats on your vegan journey. I have been vegetarian and milk free for years and 14 days ago, I cut the rest of they dairy. I feel so good! I agree that the letter to the past was easier than to the future. Both powerful in terms of really understanding how far I’ve come and where I want to be in life. I think if I had written this ten years ago, there would have been more about money and stuff.
I loved reading this and just kept smiling and nodding along. Thanks for sharing that with MY future self too. I bet you are an extraordinary mature woman at 61! 🙂
Courtney,
I loved this post! I too don’t really want to see what I’ll look like in 20 years….let it just happen gradually.
I especially loved #2, 4 & 11!
Thanks for this terrific exercise.
Courtney, What a great idea and good advice to your older self. I wonder whether many people at your age can even begin to imagine themselves 20 years older.
The emphasis on health sounds about right, although the time to start thinking seriously about your health is when you’re at your current age or younger. It’s (almost) never to late to focus on your health, although sooner is always better than later.
Hello Courtney,
What a delightful post! I so enjoyed reading this. I have a feeling though, that because you already live so well, you as a 61-year-old, will look and feel far better than your average 61-year-old today. And…you will already be convinced that you have no need to lose weight! You know, I have the notion that people who have chosen to live as you do, will not even be recognised as being old. Indeed they may well be living very fruitful lives.
Personally I have no intention of growing old and vegetating. Life is to be lived until you draw that last breath.
Just had a thought! Maybe you should change your picture – wrinkles???? You will be 61 and boldy stepping out to Grandparent’s Day where you will fit in with the parents! Age be damned!!! It’s just a number for governmental expediency!
wow! cool stuff. i am so doing this myself…
Am currently grueling through number one, who knew learning a new language would be such a rewarding challenge!
I’m really writing to say thank you to you, Court! I wouldn’t be on this extraordinary journey through Mexico without your help. So I want you to go ahead and tick off number 14 on your list – you continually help me to be more than I ever thought I could be. I only hope I can help someone else fully realize their own potential.
I turned 61 yesterday–perfect advice!!!
Hi Courtney,
This is an amazing exercise! One of the ways I have begun to simplify: I only allow myself one “to do” per day. I used to be the person who compiled item after item on a daily “to do” list, inevitably setting myself up for disappointment, overwhelm, and stress when I couldn’t complete them. It has become a wonderful exercise in choosing the one item to commit to, evaluating each choice on its ability to enrich, value added to my day/life, and of course, my desire to do it. I have found that by limiting my list to one, I actually accomplish a great deal more of the positive, life affirming items that were often lost, waiting behind the tasks for their moment.
Today’s “to do” is to write my 70 year old self a letter. Thank you so much for the inspiration!
Tamara