A Letter From Future Me

Life has been good to me.

Not painless—not easy—but good. I’ve suffered, sure. Everyone does. Some would argue I took a heavier share. But suffering was never something I scorned. It taught me more than comfort ever did. It hardened me in the right ways, and eventually it even became a voluntary pastime. A discipline. A craft. Something I strengthened myself against the way others train for sport.

I wake naturally between five and seven most mornings.

I read. I move. I take the dog out into the early quiet, letting the world rise while my mind settles into stillness. Solitude is my luxury. My body has never been a burden to me; managing my weight was never a struggle because my habits are simple—eggs, milk, a little cheese, meat and veg, wholemeal or sourdough on occasion. Clean fuel. I drink rarely, and never without intent. When I do, it’s a dry martini—sharp, honest, no nonsense. Even my coffee is black, because is there really any other way to take it?

My life is simple by design.

I don’t own much. I don’t need much. I work because men are meant to build, create, provide. I enjoy what I do, but I don’t obsess over income. I just make sure I always earn more than I spend and live below my needs, not above my ego.

I dress simply and appropriately. My social circle is small and intentional—people who are achieving, improving, becoming. I read, I journal, I walk, I lift, I stretch. I watch the seasons shift, I keep my home light and uncluttered, and somewhere along the line my spirit lifted too. Depression, anxiety, all that modern mental debris—those things melted away. Not because I chased them with medication or endless discussions, but because I stopped feeding them. I realised I already had all I needed. That the world can’t take anything essential from me. And that conforming to society’s bizarre standards—overweight, overstimulated, overentertained, overjudgmental, overconsuming—was simply not my path.

And so I chose my own.

I go where I want, when I want, to see as much as I want.

I walk beaten paths and unbeaten ones. I’ll climb a tree, shuffle across a fallen trunk, scale a cliff face if it intrigues me. I’ll take a cable car to the top of a mountain or hike it if I feel like earning the view. I swim in icy lakes. I camp under open sky. I grill steak over a fire and read by the flicker of the flames. These aren’t “once in a lifetime” adventures for me. They’re part of the rhythm of my life.

People think discipline restricts freedom.

It doesn’t. Chaos does.

Freedom is a lightness of being—the ability to say yes without hesitation because you’ve removed everything that drags you down. I cut back not out of spite or guilt, but for liberation. I designed my life so that at any moment I can drop everything and move.

Rome tomorrow? Absolutely.

Lunch in the city? Perfect.

A long walk at dusk? Always.

My schedule is loose, my obligations chosen, my time my own. Because when you trim the fat—physical, financial, mental, social—your world becomes effortless. Movement becomes easy. Spontaneity becomes natural. There has always, always, been time for nature, for adventure, for the unplanned. Because I know I have what I need, and I’m not anchored by what I don’t.

So if anyone reads this decades from now and wonders how I ended up here, the answer is simple:

Calm the fuck down.

Stop sprinting to keep up with a world that’s sprinting itself into madness. Focus on yourself and your standards. Simplify. Trim back. Turn off the television. Stop scrolling your mind into dust. Stop letting adverts infect your desires. Learn what you truly need—and cut everything else.

If the crowd walks north, cut east.

Let them be your example of what not to become. Watch how they’re funnelled, shepherded, overstimulated. Then step aside. Go your own way. Become light.

My life has been beautiful.

And very little of it was man-made.

Thankyou so much for reading! If you enjoyed this, please consider subscribing or giving it a share for others to read ☺️ I write pieces like this often, alongside poetry and the occasional bit of fiction. If you’d like to stay up to date with all my wrestling matches against societal standards, you can join me on Facebook. There’s never a dull moment!