Letters to the Void

There’s something amazing about being able to record your thoughts and feelings at a certain time knowing that you’ll be able to come back to them in the future. It’s even better when you can consciously choose the day and time that you’ll be reminded to go and look back and reflect on the past.

Technology has advanced to the point that it’s actually pretty easy to do this. I found out about this website due to an old school friend tweeting and blogging about her own experiences with writing and away things to keep aside for herself for the future. FutureMe is the aptly named website which allows you to write down whatever you’d like to yourself, pick a date and time and have that message emailed to you on the specified date.

Why is it great? Because we as people change a great deal over the course of time and being able to dip back into the mind space you were in on any random date and time can allow you a new insight into the person you are – as well as the one you were back then.

Another reason why FutureMe is a service I’ve used myself is because of the accessibility of technology. It’s not fool-proof in the least but it is true that whatever thoughts of mine that are stored on a giant server somewhere out their in the world are arguably more protected against being destroyed than those that I’ve put down onto actual paper which are exposed to the elements.

Now, this kind of thing isn’t for everyone. You might find yourself seeing nothing useful from writing to yourself in the future – and that’s just fine. It probably means that you’re in a better or more comfortable space and this method of reflecting back doesn’t impact you. Nothing to worry about, there are multitudes of other ways to accomplish introspection.

For me, a lifelong lover of words who’s still trying to figure stuff out, FutureMe allows me yet another medium to preserve myself as I am. I think that’s incredibly valuable because I’ve many times in the past found that it’s difficult for me to make a connection with my own past.

Perhaps using this website will help and perhaps it won’t. But for now, I’m happy writing those letters into the void and thinking that maybe, just maybe, I’m leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for myself to follow back to if I take another wrong turn somehow.