Happy Birthday, from 23 and half-ish you!

Dear FutureMe, How old are you? 27. Nice. Very cool. I hope you are happily married to the real love of your life and your career seems set. If not, that's fine. It's probably for the best, as I am trying to teach myself. Just keep trying; that's one thing always good about you. You do not really give up the important things at its core. But also, have faith. This is something we, or at least I, need to work on. 2023 has been decent so far, not sure how 2026 is treating you. Has ChatGPT ruined society yet? Hopefully not yet. I'd like my 20s to be decent enough. But I wonder if it is starting to clearly show on your end that it is impacting the world like the Internet did, or if it was just a really big miscalculation that it would have this much of an effect. I have not seen anything have this much of a monumental presence among the minds of those looking at the future of tech. Heh, ChatGPT economic bubble burst maybe? The dot-com did, when I was like less than a year old. Anyway, due to the unfortunate nature of time, you cannot reply to me (**** the unidirectional property of the time-stream, which is the the metaphorical river I will be throwing is letter in a metaphorical bottle to, where it was picked up and sent to you). So I'll tell you about myself and what goes at my end of the time-stream. I graduated last June and immediately was able to start work (lucky me! You should be thankful I got it easy), and it's been decent. Was put on a project that did get a bit somewhat neglected for a while, but still used it to learn, since my focus is more learning than money (once again, be thankful I could take that decision, not many can), but recently got moved to a proper project with a client. Now I have to do client calls and do work that is a bit more demanding. It has been a bit stressful, got off to a somewhat bad start and they probably think I am a little incompetent, but it's getting better. You are probably thinking, yeah, that start was nothing in the grand scheme of things. I finally seem to have a decent productivity flow; I learned over the years and decided not to be too over perfectionist with my Notion and improve step by step. I also set clear resolutions and commit to a weekly review which has made it much easier to stay on track. My "Getting Things Done" flow is still a bit shaky, but it'll get better. I always commit to a weekly review. Ironically, the previous Sunday, I actually didn't do the weekly review. Oh no, the one main commitment I made for myself. But it's fine, it was because of the aforementioned work (maybe working on the weekend isn't too healthy...but I won't repeat this, and it was to reduce stress later in the week). I'll do better and improve; as always, I'll keep trying. My Notion set up is pretty cool. I also will get a Kindle Paperwhite from someone (well, I ask him to buy it while he was in Canada where he gets it cheaper and I'll pay him back later), so I'll get that by Eid-ul-Fitr in the end of the coming April. Can't wait to use it to help mitigate my phone addiction and read more books! I mean, when scrolling through Instagram, what do I gain from it? The old people were kind of right. Maybe the phone really is the problem. It's a literally PC in the pocket. Who constantly uses their PC everywhere? It's the same thing with a phone, if you think about it. If you have a child by now, protect them from this. Moderate their usage, especially when they're babies. Spending more time with them is better than leaving the phone to them constantly, no matter how tempting it is to just make them stop nagging. Anyway, though, I have cut down on it and other bad habits. I hope you're free now. Like free from these distractions. I hope you feel like your focus is healthy and you have your act together (I mean, I won't vicitimise myself...I do generally have my act together, at least on the outside, but you know, some serious rooms for improvement exist in some areas). Moreover, I have a database on Notion to arrange the movies and other art I consume...soon I'll be able to consume more entertainment that isn't as soul sucking as some of my bad time sinks. I'll also delve myself more into a good story...that will make a good novelist, right? Right, man? Ok, if you haven't started, here's a push to write the next big time travel novel. The last movie I watched was Puss In Boots: The Last Wish. It was pretty good. Not as good as Shrek or something as some people say, but I applaud its confidence in new animation styles and plot choices. I hope this kicks off some new great movies from these big corporate houses on your end. (Shrek 5 better be good...). I am also looking forward to Across The Spider-Verse, releasing this year!! Hopefully it stood the test of time like the first movie did. Anyway, I hope you feel like 2023 was a good year for you in retrospect. Or maybe you realise that a lot of good things built up and 2023 was just one piece and not the first piece. I kind of see that, but not clearly. Maybe it's easier from where you are. Either way, good luck for the rest of your life. I do have a much older letter I wrote to a version of us much older than you. I hope he receives it well. Not sure if the versions of us between you and me have written anything, though, but you know that anyway. Much Love (???), Past You