How to be Nicer to Your Future Self Now
Thinking about the future is something that crosses the mind of all millennials. We wonder who we will be when we grow up (which, in all honesty, is a question I will be asking myself way after I become an adult), what our big kid goals are, and who will still be in our lives to see the process. I am a person who constantly thinks about my future and how my actions today will affect my tomorrow.
And sometimes, in that thinking, we can be very harsh to ourselves. These thoughts now are only guaranteed to affect our future. So what could be done to ensure you are nicer to your future self now? Just sit and hope for the best. No!
You can take many steps now to be nicer to your future self, ultimately ensuring a much more successful future! So stick with me here and check out these tips on being nicer to your future self now.
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Learn from the Past
I am a big believer that any and every occasion or person in your life was put in your life for a purpose. Whether it is a success or a failure, that situation occurred so that you could learn from it. Take notes from your past and see what went wrong and how this has helped shape you into who you are. Not all lessons from the past will be positive, but I can guarantee that they will benefit you in the long run.
Self-Love
This is one of the most important lessons. I used to hate it when people said that no one would ever love you unless you loved yourself. I thought this was a lie because, in all movies, the guy would make the girl see how wonderful she was, and then she would come to love herself.
Here’s the deal.
Life is 10,000% not like the movies. Before expecting someone else to understand, you need to know yourself and what you want. Now I know you may think, “yeah, of course, I know life is not like the movies.” But sometimes, your soul may still not be getting the message. I could say out loud that life is not like the movies, but there was always this niggling hope in the back of my mind that things would work out that way.
That is not the case! You must be at peace with yourself before finding someone else. Hell, putting relationships aside, you must come to love yourself because you are stuck with you for the rest of your life. I know self-love is easier said than done, but you are pretty great and deserve love from everyone, including yourself.
But honestly, not to even make this about relationships, loving yourself is the best and most effective way to be nicer to your future self. So, what steps can you take to ensure you are loving yourself? Practice self-care, take yourself to the movies, and meditate a bit. Find activities that encourage you to reflect deeply and learn more about yourself.
Guy Winch, psychologist, and TEDx presenter, looks at self-care as more than practicing good emotional hygiene. “We’ll go to the doctor when we feel flu-ish or a nagging pain. So why don’t we see a health professional when we feel emotional pain: guilt, loss, loneliness? Too many of us deal with common psychological-health issues on our own, says Guy Winch. But we don’t have to. He makes a compelling case for practicing emotional hygiene — taking care of our emotions and minds with the same diligence we take care of our bodies” (TED).
Check out his TED Talk, “Why We All Need To Practice Emotional First Aid.”
If you enjoyed his talk, Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure, and Other Everyday Hurts”
Mind-Body Connection
You must be in tune with your body and take care of it because your body is your transportation; if it does not work, you do not work. This is not like Stephanie Meyer’s The Host, where you can suck out your soul and put it into a new body. You must take the necessary precautions to ensure that you can live a long life.
I once challenged a close friend to go on a 30-day cleanse. We had to stop drinking alcohol during those 30 days and work out at least once a day. We did not set a time limit for how long the workout had to be, but we had to commit to doing something. It is the little steps like this that help lead to big results. Honestly, I felt more refreshed at the end of the 30 days.
If you want a different type of mind-body connection, you can always try yoga or meditation. With continual research on reflective substances and how to store mushroom syringes, who knows, maybe the future will change, but these two practices are a great starting point! Both can do such wonders! Plus, there are so many websites that can provide you with helpful courses at any time and in any place.
One of my favorites is Yoga Download because you can access thousands of yoga classes based on your skill level from anywhere. You could take a quick course during your lunch break or at home after dinner. Whenever is best for you, Yoga Download is there to help you and provide the ultimate Zen. So you have an array of options on how you want to find that mind-body connection.
Whichever you choose, both will help you, in the long run, to be nicer to your future self now
Educate Yourself
Always, always, always educate yourself. There are many ways to access information and continuously educate ourselves every day, whether going to school, watching TED Talks (like the one above), or even taking Groupon classes (Yeah, Groupon offers some online classes!). Their classes can range from philosophy to enhancing relationship skills to woodworking. Groupon has a whole host of courses.
Our mind is one freedom that can never be taken away from us and is beneficial in all walks of life. Through learning, you can travel the world, learn about others’ lives, or travel throughout time. Out of all of my tips, I stress this the most because claiming an education can lead us to a better world.
Personal SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis is typically applied to businesses or big events, but your life is one big event! For those who do not know, SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
How can I use this?
I occasionally like to take a personal inventory of my life, and when doing so, I use this: What are my strengths? Do I have things going for me? What is working?
Then, I have to look at the opposite end. What is not working out so well? What needs to be eliminated? Sometimes, this could mean a personal habit or a relationship.
Then, we move to the opportunities. What could I utilize in my life to improve it? Maybe I could turn a volunteer opportunity into a future internship.
Finally, there are the threats. What am I doing that can threaten my success? For me, this would be my procrastination in schoolwork.
This analysis of your personal life seems silly, but I promise it works. As we discussed before taking time to reflect on your life, this SWOT analysis can help.
Sometimes, it helps to break our lives down to the nitty-gritty details to continue improving ourselves. So, pull out a piece of paper, or in my case, a conference-size sticky note, and take the time to do your personal SWOT analysis. This is one simple step to being nicer to your future self today.
Check Your Crew
Look at the people around you. These are the ones that will heavily influence you and either help you become a better person or a terrible one. To be nicer to yourself, you must work on those around you who will constantly boost you up and put you in your place when needed. But not just that.
That’s not all.
You also need people around you who challenge your ideas and make you consider different perspectives. This way, you can continue to grow rather than remain the same.
As I said in the first point, each person is put into your life for a reason, and you can learn from them. However, with that said, you do not necessarily need to keep them permanently in your life if they do more harm than good. You will know which ones are worth keeping and which are just passing through.
If you cannot tell which is which, stop and see how your life is going now. Are there certain people who are negatively influencing you? Well, those are the ones who need to go. You need to learn from your past.
If you remain the same, there will be nothing to learn from. The ones who are there to stay, though, are the ones who can help you. These people can also help you work towards self-love. They should push you to be better and achieve great things in life.
Check out an article I wrote a few years ago on achieving big things in your life with your friends. It will definitely help you figure out which ones to keep and help you be nicer to your future self.
Big Kid Goals
Make some big kid goals. You know, the ones back in the day when you would imagine yourself having a house made of candy when you became a big kid (was that just me?). Obviously, you should try to modify them to something realistic, but it is so crucial and beneficial to have goals that you can work towards every day.
Plan them out as 5-year, 10-year, or 15-year plans so that you can realistically hold yourself accountable to a date and plan. After I graduated from graduate school, it was my 5-year plan to live in Scotland for a while. While I did not live in Scotland, I did live in Ireland for a while! It seemed like a nice compromise.
With that said, make goals, but be open to altering them a bit. As long as they still take you in the direction you want to go. So, take the time to think about what your big kid’s goals are.
There is never a finish line….
Remember that you are an ongoing process; there is never a finish line. Every day, you must take small steps to continue bettering yourself and setting yourself up for a better future. This takes work, but try to address these steps day by day to become nicer to your future self. Sooner rather than later, you will love and appreciate yourself more.
**This article contains affiliate links; we will be compensated for any purchase made by clicking on them. Thank you for supporting Miss Millennia Magazine!**
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