What is FutureMe and how does it work?

Set up in 2002 and still going strong, FutureMe is a simple website that invites users to write email-based letters to themselves, to then be delivered on a future date of their choosing. Whilst this may sound like an odd concept, it’s actually quite amazing how much insight you can gain when hearing from your past self.

Whilst this may sound like an odd concept, it’s actually quite amazing how much insight you can gain when hearing from your past self.

For instance, let’s say you write a letter today and set it to be delivered in exactly five years. Chances are that by then your life will have changed in many ways – you could have switched jobs, moved house, got married and started a family. Perhaps you’ll have started your own business, emigrated or even won the lottery.

We all live day by day, with even the largest and most unexpected developments becoming accepted parts of our lives quite quickly. Receiving a letter from your past self is an opportunity to assess your achievements and see how much you’ve grown, or perhaps realise that some of your goals haven’t yet been reached, which is excellent motivation to go the extra mile.

At the very least, FutureMe can be loads of fun. Many people receive letters listing silly events and mundane situations that have an amusing and nostalgic feel to them further down the line. Whether it’s talking about eating the perfect pattie and chips or painting the garden fence a garish yellow, it can be very heart-warming to be reminded of small activities and mini milestones that you would otherwise forget entirely.

FutureMe is very easy to use. Simply write an email letter that’s as long or short as you wish, add a subject if desired, then set the date, which could be anywhere from tomorrow to fifty years from now. You can also list it as either public or private – if private, once the delivery date has arrived, only you will be able to see the letter in your account; if public, the letter can be read by others via anyone at all (email addresses are never shown).

If you sign up to the website, you benefit from access to all of your letters. You can’t read the ones that haven’t yet been delivered, but you do have the option to delete them if you need to for any reason. You can also change the email address that they’ll be delivered to, which is means you’ll never miss a letter from “past you”.

One user, Margaret, says this about FutureMe: "I love this. I've sent myself 5 letters so far and every year it's a surprise. Because I forget so easily. It turns into such a deep reflective process, that I usually weep and laugh while I write."

Meanwhile, here’s an example of a particularly pointless yet entertaining letter that was sent eight years into the future:

Dear FutureMe,

Wanna know the difference between you and me?

You're older.

We highly recommend that you give FutureMe a go, so why not sign up for free and start writing to the versions of you who will be around one, ten or even fifty years from now?