The future me

Describe the life you were dreaming of 
when you were 8 years old. Will you be happy about it at 40?

I wanted to give this prompt to one of the secret subject swappers, but it was not chosen, so I decided to use it myself. 

I got the idea from the scene of my all time favorite movie, the kid, where almost 40 year old Russ meets himself when he was an 8 year old boy:

"I'm forty, I'm not married, I don't fly a jet and I don't have a dog? - I grow up to be a loser!"

Fortunately Russ gets a glimpse of his life as a 70 year old, and because it is a Disney movie, he learns that he actually will be married to Amy, fly a jet and have the world's greatest dog called Chester! 

As an 8 year old I think I wanted to become a stay at home mom to two lovely kids -  just like my mom. 

However, I remember about an essay I wrote when I was 10 or 11. We were supposed to describe our life in the year 2000. 

I was living in an apartment that was equipped with a camera so I could see who was ringing my bell at the entrance. 

I had a silver convertible sports car with lots of features including a sensor that would open the garage door. 

I had a great job - although it was unclear what I was doing - and a boyfriend with whom I would fly to cities with skyscrapers.

I turned into a blonde, got rid of my glasses; my clothes included lots of bling, and I was finally allowed to wear high heels and make-up!

Looking back at my life as a 30 year old, my vision as a 10 year old wasn't far off: Apartment, boyfriend, convertible, check! Job, city trips, contact lenses, check! 
No rhinestone dress or video surveillance, though.

One day in my life in the year 2000 I attended a series of classes on how to become a coach. One exercise was to picture our lives 10 years from now. OMG, 40!!! Clearly I had to have my own business by then - and / or be a mom because the clock was ticking!

What a stroke of genius I must have hit by meeting my husband who runs his own business and who gave me a part-time job after having our baby! Although in order for all of this being able to happen, his business partner passed away and I started to hate my bosses at the airline job.

So here I am, blogging about my life as part-time working mom, being happy about where I am and just for fun asking myself where / what I am going to be in my 50s. 

A friend of mine posted how I met my "future me" 

As it is in German, let me summarize it for you: The guy feels disconnected and is wondering about the meaning of life. While meditating he visualizes how he is leaning onto a tree in the park, it is a gorgeous spring day, the birds are chirping, yadayada… 

Then a strange, yet familiar guy approaches him. Turnes out it is his future him, and he gets to ask him questions.

I was curious. He seems to be a spiritual guy - was this something that regular old me  could try?? 

I followed the steps he listed:

1. Retire to a quiet place where you won't be disturbed for 10 minutes
2. Close your eyes
3. Imagine to be in a place you like. The tree in the park, the beach, the spa (think prosecco bath), wherever you feel at ease
4. Breathe in and out, focus on your breath and say "in" and "out" when you breathe in and out - I skipped this part, I was eager to finally meet my future me ;-)
5. Now visualize your future you approaching you, sitting down across from you - you decide whether it is your future in 5, 10 or 20 years
6. Let your future you sink in for a while - ask questions
7. After your future you answered your questions, imagine how they get up, give you a hug and disappear
8. Breathe in and out a couple of times and open your eyes

So I did it the other night, and it worked!! 

Of course I didn't chose just any place but La Jolla, CA - which I consider to be my second home.

I was sitting on a bench, waiting for myself - I am going to call the future me "her" for easier reading - in her mid-fifties which is about 30 years from now. Just kidding. 

She arrived, and she looked great! Bright eyes, luminous curly (?!) hair, barely any wrinkles, smiling all the time. She was casually dressed in boots, jeans and suede blazer (one that I have been looking for all.the.time!!!)

She seemed very relaxed, well-balanced and energetic. (So I will be able to sleep better in the future, yay!)

She basically told me that I was on the right track, not to sweat the small stuff, to let go of what's not important, to focus on what I liked doing and most of all soak up my time with my family, especially Colin. 

"That's what I did and look how well I am doing!" She told me.

It was great meeting her. 

The only thing that still bugs me: why on earth didn't I take a picture??? 

I googled for suede jackets. Those come closest.

Longer hair and less sleek

Curlier, more cheerful

Concluding this post I want to encourage you to try it as well - and tell me about your encounter if you like!