There was an interesting experiment concerning workers who weren’t saving up enough money for their retirement. The researches made them visualise their future self, which included everything from digital visualisation to writing letters “to myself in 20 years”.
These people started saving up a lot more than before. And the scientists were like, ahh the reason we don’t care about our future self is that it’s too abstract! We literally can’t connect to it without some hardcore computer stimulation. Great work guys, problem solved.
So, today I was thinking about every time I self-sabotaged in the past. Everything from binge watching a show instead of sleeping to that one time I didn’t submit my Master’s thesis on time, which set me back about 2 years.
And I realised, it’s not that I didn’t care for my future self. I love my future self. I always imagine her to be way more together than I am now, and also wise and successful. Possibly looking great for a middle aged woman.
But then, there’s the past self. What I realised today, my relationship with her is much worse and that often comes up when I’m about to make an important decision. Like with that Master’s thesis – I hated myself for procrastinating the previous year, so I kept on procrastinating. Because working hard would be an act of self love, and all I felt was self hate.
So the future self suffered. I still suffer the consequences in some ways actually, though it’s been 5 years. I AM that future self. Hello.
Meanwhile, what is the past self doing?
She doesn’t exist. Unlike the future self, which does. In some ways she’s more real than the present self (Zen masters would disagree).
So I guess my conclusion is, the best thing we can do for ourselves is forgive and forget the past self, let her go, and do something wholesome right now.
