Predicting the Future to my 2-Years-ago Self

Today is August 24th, 2014. Your 22nd birthday’s about a month away and that’s just about all you can think about. You’ll have a birthday dinner and it’ll be just fine but something you’ll forget about from time to time when later looking back on how you celebrated your past birthdays.

You’re about to start your 2 year Bachelor’s Degree program at Palo Alto University in about a month and are nervous and excited right now, but everything will go quite smoothly and really quickly. You’ll have great times, only a couple late nights, and learn more than you’re actually expecting right now. And, even though right now you hope to make lifetime friendships since you watch movies and TV shows where people say, “an old friend from college”, you won’t. You’ll make good acquaintances, but nothing too serious. 2 years from now you won’t care much that you didn’t make lasting friendships because at this point you will be content in believing that a few really great people are all you need.

Pretty soon you’re going to start thinking about grandma’s big 80 and A. and you will plan a cute and quaint birthday celebration where you will eat ice cream cake from Coldstone Creamery and fried chicken and sides from Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen at grandma’s kitchen table. It will be small and quite, but sweet and just enough. You will continue to call grandma almost every day after work and will enjoy sharing your life with her and making sure her spirits are lifted. From time to time you will think about the inevitable and wonder how you will live on without her. You will wonder how you will breathe and move on with life without her. Then, you will stop wondering because your mind will go blank having no idea how life would go on. Well, 2 years from now, grandma will be gone physically, but never gone mentally or emotionally. And as difficult as it may be, life does go on. And even though you assume that after someone dies time makes things easier, it’s unfortunately not true. Nothing ever gets easier. The shock goes away as you accept that it’s happened and no time machine exists yet to allow you to go back and hold her hand or sit on her lap or laugh with her once more, but the pain doesn’t ease. You will cry still and you will miss her just the same as the day you lost her. But life, life does go on somehow.

You’re 5 months into your new corporate job right now and everything feels exciting and your eyes are wide and your future opportunities feel endless. 2 years later you will see things 360° differently. You will be finishing up the chapter at this job and will be moving on to bigger and better things that may not seem bigger and better when examining it today, but 2 years later you will see things much differently and bigger and better will mean new things to you. Remember, you will have wiser eyes 2 years from now, not wide, but wise. Those 2 years at this job will be a really long journey, it won’t be easy. You will be told you’re too quiet. You will be told you have to open up more. You will be told you have to talk more and become more comfortable socializing with people. You will question yourself and you will even purchase a book about introversion titled, Quiet. You will ponder who you are and you will ponder if you are good enough or if you are doomed to be shy and timid. You will one day after so much pondering realize none of that shit matters. You will realize you are who you are, and with the help of Quiet, you are amazing and wonderful just the way you are because you do have a quiet side. Silence is a virtue and listening more than yapping is a gift you have. You will be told empty promises more than you can count and those “endless growth” and “financial opportunities” speeches you’ll hear about until your face is blue, it’s mostly crap. Growth will come after you are already over-prepared for it and financial opportunities will be like cheap treats to a dumb dog with it’s tongue hanging out. You will grow just enough to feel proud of yourself and just enough to learn your potential, but you’ll also fight a lot for your worth. These fights will teach you about your strength, your boundaries, your worth, your potential, your breaking point, the rights you gift yourself, and your voice.

2 years from now you will be in love with growing more than ever and you will be looking forward to the next 2 years, just as you’ve always known yourself — always looking ahead.