50 Letter to Your Future Self Ideas (When You Don't Know What to Write)

The hardest part of writing a letter to your future self usually isn't the sealing, the choosing of a date, or even the sentiment — it's the blank page. 'Write to yourself in a year' is such an open prompt that most people freeze. Here are 50 concrete starting points, grouped so you can pick whichever angle actually applies to where you are right now.

About right now

1. What does an average Tuesday look like for you at the moment? 2. What are you worried about that you suspect won't matter in a year? 3. What's a small thing that made today good? 4. What are you avoiding? 5. What do you believe right now that you think might be wrong? 6. What's a habit you're in the middle of trying to build or break? 7. Who's been on your mind lately, and why? 8. What's something you're proud of that nobody else really noticed?

About the year ahead

9. What do you hope has happened by the time you read this? 10. What do you hope hasn't changed? 11. What's a risk you're considering taking? 12. What would you regret not trying? 13. Is there a conversation you keep meaning to have? 14. What's the one thing that, if it went well, would make the whole year feel worth it? 15. What are you scared might happen? 16. What would you do differently if you weren't afraid of it?

Questions for your future self

17. Did you keep the promise you're about to make in this letter? 18. Are you still friends with the people you're close to right now? 19. Did the thing you were dreading actually happen, and was it as bad as you thought? 20. What do you know now that you wish I knew already? 21. Are you proud of how you handled this year? 22. What would surprise you most about reading this? 23. Did you become who you were trying to become, or someone else entirely?

Gratitude and grounding

24. What are you grateful for today that you might take for granted by next year? 25. Who has helped you this year that you haven't properly thanked? 26. What's something ordinary you want to remember — a smell, a room, a routine? 27. What does your life look like from the outside right now, and does that match how it feels from the inside? 28. What's a small kindness someone showed you recently?

Faith and reflection

29. What does your relationship with Allah look like right now, honestly? 30. What's one act of worship you want to have made consistent by the time this arrives? 31. What sin do you keep returning to, and what would it mean to finally leave it behind? 32. What duʿāʾ have you been making, and do you expect it to be answered by then? 33. What would muḥāsabah on this exact year look like, done properly?

Advice and instructions

34. What advice would you give the person reading this? 35. What should they absolutely not give up on? 36. Is there something you want them to forgive you for, or forgive someone else for? 37. What's a decision you're about to make that you want on record before you know how it turns out? 38. What do you want to remind them not to forget?

Specific and concrete

39. What's currently in your bank account, your fridge, your inbox? 40. What are you currently reading, watching, listening to? 41. What's the news right now — the real news, in your life, not the headlines? 42. Who's still alive right now that you want to make sure you appreciated while they were? 43. What does your prayer routine actually look like today, not how you wish it looked? 44. What's a fear you have about your health, your family, your work — say it plainly. 45. What's something you bought recently that you're either glad or embarrassed about? 46. What's a place you want to have visited by then? 47. What's a skill you're in the middle of learning? 48. What's the last thing that made you cry, and why? 49. What time did you wake up today, and how did today actually go, hour by hour? 50. If this is the only thing your future self reads from you all year, what has to be in it?

Pick two or three, not all fifty — the point isn't to answer everything, it's to get past the blank page. Once you've got a few honest lines down, the rest of the letter tends to follow on its own.