Welcome to Day 3 of the 31 Days to Reset Your Life Challenge!
Yesterday, you took an honest assessment of your life. You probably had many "likes" to be grateful for, but also some "dislikes" that may have left you feeling a bit discouraged at this stage of the challenge. Today, you will be able to put those "dislikes" into perspective by writing a love letter. No, not to your romantic partner . . . to yourself. We all know that setting goals for yourself and writing them down is a great way to make sure you stay on track with living your ideal life, but what happens when you don't have anyone to hold you accountable?
Estimated Time to Complete: 60 minutes
This two-part exercise requires you to write a love letter to your future self and then email it to yourself exactly 30 days from now. Your future self is the person you hope to grow into as your personal development journey unfolds. She is the "you" who has more "likes" than "dislikes" in each of the seven specific areas of her life.
Write yourself an inspiring letter about how your life will be improved in the future. The idea is that instead of just having "likes," there will be "loves" in their place. If you want, you may use the outline below for your letter or just freestyle your own!
Dear future [your name here],
Congratulations on all the progress you've made so far! You now have even more to be grateful for in each area of your life, including the following:
Lifestyle: You love . . .
Work: You love . . .
Education: You love . . .
Finances: You love . . .
Health: You love . . .
Family: You love . . .
Relationships: You love . . .
Your life is so much better now and it's all because of your hard work. Keep it up!
[your name here]
Next, you will copy and paste your letter into futureme.org, a site that allows you to write yourself a letter that's emailed to you at some point at least 30 days into the future. You can make your letters private or public, but anonymous. It's you being your own cheerleader and holding yourself accountable, with the help of a little magic technology!
After you post your letter, make sure you set it to be sent to you exactly 30 days from now. It's a powerful exercise, and I challenge you to try it out for yourself and see if it helps you stay encouraged as you make progress on living your ideal life.
Take Action and Reflect: When you're done, please share your love letter with us in the comments! Also be sure to post it on the futureme.org site to be sent to yourself exactly 30 days from now as a reminder to check in on your progress after the challenge.
Wishing you lifelong happiness and success
*Before I share my letter, I just want to say that this was harder than I thought it would be. This, paired with yesterday's exercise, has really made me rethink some things that I thought I had worked through already.*
ReplyDeleteDear Future Chrishele,
At the beginning of last month's challenge, you were skeptical that much of the Reset Your Life Challenge would apply to you since you were sure you already had it together! :p Well...trick you! 30 days later, look at how your perspective has changed. SOOOOOO.....Congratulations on all the progress you've made so far! You now have even more to be grateful for in each area of your life, including the following:
Lifestyle: You love how you have made more time to spend with your friends. In the last 30 days, your friendships have blossomed into lifelong connections that can never be lost or forgotten!
Work: You love the new-found balance that exists between work and everything else. Good-bye 14 hour days, hello down time!
Education: You love that acceptance letters are going to be rolling in soon (SPEAK LIFE) AND that a plan now exists to alleviate some of the fears you have about debt. Everything in life happens according to the plan that God has laid out for you...cast fear aside and make your educational dreams come true!
Finances: You love that you've finally spent some of that hard earned money on YOU. New clothes, new shoes, and saving up for a new car! Your Mary Kay business is thriving, bringing in about $600 extra last month.
Health: You love that you're finally putting that gym membership to use! Because you are in shape, spiritually, emotionally, and physically, there is very little that can bring you down. Adding weekly Bible Study to your schedule has made all the difference in your life.
Family: You love that Mom is finally accepting you as the individual that you are. After having "the talk" and really working on your relationship, you two are closer than ever. You also love the new relationships you've created with your extended family members. :) It's about time you start to see them as more than just "cousins".
Relationships: You love the way you make sure that each of your friends knows his/her value in your life. Weekly conversations, meal dates, emails...whatever you've done...you've learned to put in the work to show your support system that you appreciate their worth and that's a powerful thing. The distance thing with Antoine hasn't changed, but with graduation 140 days away that will be changing soon enough.
Your life is so much better now and it's all because of your hard work. Keep it up!
Dear Future Brandy,
ReplyDeleteI am so proud of the progress you have made this far! You are so incredible. You have become the intelligent, confident, and outgoing person that I knew you could be. Your life is so amazing now. You have worked hard at your job and it is evident that you are appreciated. You are finally able to help contribute to the bills, and provide for the family, which was an important goal for you. Because you have taken the time to develop yourself, you were able to help develop others. Your relationships have gotten stronger because of your confidence in yourself and in others. I am proud of the woman you have become. Enjoy your new job as well as your volunteer work because the job that you want as a coach will be available to you soon. Continue to put God first and everything else shall follow. Never lose sight of your goals and always respect yourself. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! Thank you for taking the time to better yourself. You are a wonderful person.
Dear future Shaquinta,
ReplyDeleteYou have come a long way in the past month. You now realize that it is ok to depends on others sometimes. You are more comfortable with your living situation because you know it is only temporary and you know what your next steps are. You are really enjoying your job because you know that what you do makes a difference in someone's life every single day. You are getting ready for your next term in school, so don't stress. You will be fine. You did very well last semester so you have nothing to worry about. You are finally realizing that it is ok to buy something for yourself other than food. You are also better at saving. Having a full time income is really starting to pay off. You have also started working out and being more conscious of the things you eat so thank you for making me feel so thank you. You are well on your way to meeting your goal. You are working on your relationship with your family, especially mama. So glad you worked up the courage to tell her how you feel. You and your King are doing great. Your bond is so strong. Your souls connect on a level that only you and God can comprehend. You and your friends are talking more often now. The distance still makes it difficult, but skype is a wonderful invention isn't it.
You will be natural for a year next month. Don't forget you are doing a natural photo shoot, so you want to be ready for that ;-)
You are wonderful! Wonderfully and fearfully made!