What if you could do something now to be kind to your future self? By taking actions now, you can bless yourself in the future and make things easier.
The tips below are a starting place for self kindness.
Here’s an example of a situation where I applied this principle.
Years ago we paid a lot of money for an artificial Christmas tree of the “pre-lit” variety with 1200 little white lights. It was great! Until the lights started burning out.
If you’ve ever removed the Christmas lights from a pre-lit fake tree, raise your hand now.
Undoing the tightly-wrapped wires, twisting the clips loose and cutting the plastic zip-ties is a tedious, painstaking job that takes forever. One strand of lights took me more than an hour to remove, and this tree had, of course, 12 strands. Each year, I removed one or two strands before packing the tree up for the season.
After Christmas when the tree was down to its last two burned-out light strands, I was anxious to move it out of the living room and un-anxious to spend two hours on the loathesome task.
Suddenly that little voice of reason in my mind said, “It’s a hassle, but this is a gift you could give yourself next December. Think how happy you’d be to open the box and discover a nice tree with no burned-out lights.”
I sat down for a moment, intrigued by the concept of giving my own self a gift that would make me happy at the end of the year.
I soon began writing down some other ideas. Now I actively look for strategies that will make life easier in the future.
8 Things to Do Now and Be Kind to Your Future Self
1. Save Money
Regularly contribute to an investment or savings account. I’m funding a Roth IRA, for which I pay taxes on the earnings now. However, when I retire the income will be tax-free.
2. Stay on Top of Clutter
If we continue to declutter and get rid of unused items, when we’re older we won’t have to deal with too much stuff. Our adult children will breathe easier, too.
3. Get Regular Exercise
Exercising and weight training will help our bodies stay well and keep functioning. I try to take a good walk each day, spend some time in the sunshine, and eat foods rich in calcium, so my future self enjoys strong bones.
4. Make Time for Inner Growth
I love to begin my day with an hour of quiet and time to read, meditate, and pray. My hope is that as I age, I might grow in wisdom, kindness and understanding.
5. Take Care of Your Teeth
It just takes a few minutes to floss your teeth each day, but it’s a great investment in having a nice smile, healthy gums and strong teeth later in life.
6. Seek Passive Income
Explore sources of passive income, so money is coming in even if you’re not working.
Examples include book royalties, investment dividends, online courses, digital products, etc.
7. Nurture Important Relationships
Treasure and pursue relationships and friendships, so we can enjoy a rich social life throughout the years.
8. Exercise Your Brain
Find ways to stretch your brain by trying and learning new things, and embracing challenging puzzles and problems.
While these are long-term habits, for more immediate gratification you might enjoy 5 ways to make tomorrow better.
Do you have more ideas about this subject? What do you do now that will pay dividends for your future self later? Drop a comment below!
Save For Later
If you use Pinterest to save and share ideas, here’s a handy pin!
Eliza Cross is the creator of Happy Simple Living, where she shares ideas to help busy people simplify cooking, gardening, holidays, home, and money. She is also the award-winning author of 17 cookbooks, including Small Bites and 101 Things To Do With Bacon.
That’s so clever! My husband has taken on the task to learn about and get involved in passive income. I like everything on your list and it gives a whole new meaning to the mundane tasks that have to be done. I’m going to redo my task list and put in a rewards column. That way, I can look ahead to what kind of reward I’ll look forward to when I complete the task.
Right now, all I want to do is cross off each item on the list just to get them over with, but this will be more fun. Nice post!
I love that you shared this. Paving the way to treat yourself better in the future is something so many people forget to do. I love your list; thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this great post Eliza! It is such a great reminder to know that many of our actions today will create our tomorrow….What I’ve been doing for my “future self” is writing down my own thoughts and inspirations in my blog http://smartliving365.com
P.S. I LOVE the photo of the twins!
This twins looks very funny..Thank you for sharing
Love your list…I would have a very similar list but I will add…the gift of a close relationship with our two children. In the far off future, I see my hubby and I sitting on the verandah with a granchild on each of our laps…laughing and telling cheeky stories about their mummy and daddy.
Really inspiring list!! 🙂 I like your blog very much!
Great list. My daughter had a pre-lit tree a couple of years ago and when the lights started going out she just trashed it. She said it was a nightmare to take them off so she gave up on it.
It’s so true the saying – “Do something today your future self will thank you for” – this is a great post and such a fabulous reminder! Just discovered your blog. Great site!
Shira
I love your perspective. I was just thinking yesterday…our purpose for maintaining a healthy, disciplined lifestyle changes as we mature. At one time, it was all about “looks”. Well, I know that as the years go by, I’m becomimg more and more aware that that is no longer my motivation. Now, the reason I do what I do to stay healthy and keep life “in order” is just what you wrote about. I want to be kind to the person that I will become in the next 20-30 years. I want to still be enjoying a walk in the woods in those days. I’m preparing now.
Interesting post. The image at the top is a bit disturbing 🙂 Number 4 on your list is something I don’t do enough of.
Thanks for sharing your ideas. I agree with all of them. We really should invest for our future, not only financially but physically and spiritually as well. It will help us have lives worth living and not full of regrets. 🙂
What an inspiring one’s, For me the photo is the real image of what a great kindness is. They show that even it takes long time.. being kind to one another will never been fade.
This is definitely very inspiring…It is important to show kindness not just for others but for your own self too…
wow, great ideas. very nice perspective. always thinking ahead.
Just found your site and love this post. This idea really resonates with me. I usually find writing to a part of myself a great way to illicit info so I plan to do just that to write to my future self and ask her what would be helpful for me to be doing. Also the idea of blessing is so lovely, it’s all too easy to forget to extend that sentiment to myself.
Thank you X
What a great insight, being kind is express every moment in time and it doesn’t matter how old you are…
So well said. So true! We never know how our kind acts can affect someone else.