Sending a Message Into The Past
An attempt at reverse time-travel
I’ve always been a fan of writing messages to myself in the future.
I’m well aware of humanities rigid limitation to only travel one direction in time, but that has never stopped me from experimenting with time travel. The first thing I’d do every school year is open up my brand new planner, flip to the end of the school year, and leave a message for myself.
“Hello future me!” I’d write.
“I’m you from the beginning of the school year! I have a lot of big plans for school this year! I’d like to try my best to get all A’s in every class. Oh also I’d like to get a girlfriend this year if I can. Most importantly though I hope you are doing ok. I know things are tough with dad and mom right now, and I really hope that’s been sorted out.
You’re doing a great job!
Sincerely,
Past You.”
I’d leave these messages far enough in the planner that I’d totally forget about them until I happened upon them more than a year later. Though the conversation was always one sided I enjoyed getting a message from myself in the past, and marveled at my starry-eyed naiveite that all of my personal issues would just disappear this year.
Though I can’t say I’ve changed all that much.
However I now realize that:
Thinking I can’t send a message back is an awfully self-centric way of looking at time.
Of course I can. I’m sure there are dozens if not hundreds of past versions of me able to receive a message right now. They probably go by different names, live in different places, and come from a variety of dates and ages, but they are just as ready to get that message back from their future self.
I’d like to write a message to all the past me’s out there.
Hello Past-Me.
It makes me so happy to hear you are aiming so high. I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve kept aiming for what I know we want. Times are still tough, and I’m not quite where I thought I’d be. Lol, when are we ever. I didn’t achieve everything you set out for me, but I’m proud of all the progress I’ve made so far. I know we chose the difficult path, and boy is it difficult right now, but it’s nothing we can’t handle. We finally got our degree! We haven’t had the opportunity to land a full time job yet, which sucks, but I’ve heard things are gonna turn around soon. Ooh, also I met a beautiful person who understands and loves us. I’m writing this on their computer right now because ours broke lol. I love them a lot and I think you’d really like them too! We’ve been together for almost a year now and things are great. We play games and watch shows together almost every night! We have our ups and downs for sure, but we always manage to pull each other up when we need to! I just wanted to let you know that I haven’t given up. I’ve had hardship too. We lost some amazing people along the way. Some you know, some you may not know yet, but the fact is I’m very happy with how things are, and where I think they are going. I can tell you from experience what you’ve got in store is nothing you can’t handle! Keep up the fantastic work!
Love,
Future You!
P.S.
My path may not line up with your path. If you feel that way you should take a stab at writing your own letter to your past self, because I’m sure there are others who identify more with your story than mine.
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