The surprise note that changed my day

I don’t remember sending this, but receiving it put me straight into gratitude.

Today I sat down to go through my Monday morning emails. Sifting through newsletters, advertisements, and notes from colleagues, I saw an unusual subject line: “Replay Melissa’s Friendsgiving menu.”

At first, I thought it was a note from my publisher, or maybe a media outlet. Then, I opened it.

I don’t remember sending this to myself. It caught me off guard—and then I smiled, remembering. Last November was a difficult period, personally and professionally. I was in the middle of changes in both areas, and it was incredibly stressful. I cried a lot, waking up in the middle of the night with anxiety.

Reading this today, I imagined myself a year ago. I wondered if, once on the other side of this, I would be able to look back and think, “I did the right thing.” It felt like a pep talk to Future Me: Every season passes. Sometimes the hardest thing is still the best thing. Maybe it was some light manifestation, where “less stress” and “better work/life balance” were more premonitions instead of hopes and prayers.

Whatever I intended, it felt like a small kindness from Past Me to Current Me.

Because things are going well. I do have better work/life balance. I am less stressed. And in the span of ten seconds, this tiny note made me stop and appreciate how much has changed in a year.

I send myself email reminders all the time. The impact of this one, however, far exceeded the time and energy it took me to compose it. So I’m going to continue the practice. I’ll send Future Me a hope, an intention, or a reminder of what I’m working toward. Something she can stumble across months from now and think, Look at us. We made it here. (And if we didn’t: “Look at us. The Universe had something else in mind—something that wasn’t even on our radar back then.”)

It feels like a small kindness I can gift myself, but it also makes every reminder more fun: “Hi Melissa, it’s time to renew your Delaware Corporate Franchise Tax, and I hope you made it to Japan like you planned!

XO, MU