In 2028 you will know whether the decisions you make today were worth it. Write to yourself before that moment comes.
Three years is a peculiar distance. Not so close as to be immediate, not so far as to become abstract. It is the horizon where deep changes become visible: the projects you started have results, the decisions you put off have had consequences, the relationships you looked after show it, and so do the ones you neglected.
In three years you can finish a degree, build up a business, move to a new city, become a parent, get out of a situation that seems permanent today. 2028 is the year you will know whether the decisions you make now were worth it. And that is exactly why it deserves a letter.
A letter to your 2028 self is a scheduled emotional check-in. Not to judge yourself, but to give context to whoever you will be then. So your 2028 self understands where they came from, what they feared, what they hoped for. That context is the most valuable thing you can give them: without it, the future loses its memory.
2028 is also an Olympic year, one of those milestones our shared culture turns into a reference point in time. There is something about years with big events that anchors time. When your 2028 self opens the email, the world will have a shared frame of reference, and your letter will have a place in it.
Three-year cycles
Studies, relationships, career projects: many of the most important changes in life happen in windows of two to four years. Writing for 2028 is recognising that you are in one of those cycles and wanting to record the starting point.
Six ideas for a horizon of transition and results.
The idea, the business, the creative project you are working on now. Did you see it through? Did you drop it in time? Either way you will want to know why.
No drama: just an honest point of comparison. Did you make the financial decisions you were putting off? Did things settle down?
The ones you imagined would be there and the ones you did not. The surprises here are often the most revealing when you reread a letter three years later.
The balance you are looking for now between work and personal life, between duty and desire. Not the perfect one: yours. Did you manage it, even for a while?
Something you do not know yet. Sometimes the most valuable letters are the ones that make you ask a question you had never thought of asking.
From 2028, with everything you know by then. The advice only someone who has lived what you are about to live can give. Write it yourself now, from the other side.
Think about the last three years of your life. How many things changed that you would never have predicted? Jobs, relationships, places, the way you see the world. The list is probably long. Three years is a window of time that seems short but, truly lived, is enormous.
Most of the important changes in a life happen in exactly those windows of two to four years. A course of study, the launch of a project, the beginning or end of a meaningful relationship, the decision to stay or to leave. They are processes that do not happen overnight, but in three years they have taken their final shape.
Writing for 2028 is recognising that you are in one of those cycles. That something is changing, or about to change. And that it is worth recording where you were at the start, before memory begins to rewrite the story.
Written with calm and without filters.
Spring 2025
Dear 2028 me,
I am at a strange moment: I feel like I am building something, but I do not know yet whether the foundations are right. There are projects that excite me, decisions I have been putting off longer than I should and a slight background anxiety that I try not to let run the show.
By 2028 you will know: whether what seems so important to me now really was, or whether time shrank it down to its real size. I would love you to tell me which of the two happened.
I also want to ask you about that conversation I keep putting off. You know which one. The one I know I need to have but keep finding a thousand reasons not to have yet. Did you have it? How did it go?
If I can ask you one thing: in 2028, take a moment to write to yourself for 2031. Do not let the chain break. May there always be a version of you waiting on the other side.
I hope you are well. I hope you feel proud of at least one thing you did between now and 2028. That is enough.
With affection, your 2025 self ✉
Curious? Read real public letters that others have shared.
Common questions about letters for 2028.
Have more questions? Write to us or visit the blog for more resources.
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