A Letter From My Future Self

(Note: I posted this last week on Medium but after receiving a lot of feedback from people who related to my writing, I've decided to repost it on LinkedIn in hopes it might help even more people)

Quitting my job, moving to a new city by myself, and changing careers has been incredibly difficult. In theory, I know things won’t always be this hard. But right now it’s hard to imagine it. So, I started thinking about what life will be like when I’m older and I wrote myself a letter from the perspective of my future self.

Dear Morgan,

Hi, it’s Morgan. Future Morgan. I know, trippy right? Today is my (Our?) 30th birthday. I’m feeling so happy, grateful, and loved today — it’s hard to believe that I haven’t always felt this way. Even though the majority of my days now are good days, I’ve been reflecting on a time when that wasn’t the case.

It was 6 years ago. We were 24 years old, we quit our job, moved out of our parent’s house — where we had been safe and comfortable for three years — and down to big, scary, intimidating Los Angeles.

Right now, as you’re reading this, you’re approaching six months of unemployment and you feel like your life is going nowhere. You’re experiencing crippling loneliness and self-doubt. You’re wondering what the hell you’re doing in Los Angeles. You don’t think you’ll ever be able to get a job as a Jr. Copywriter. I mean, what the hell do you even know about writing? You don’t even have a blog, what was the last thing you wrote? Just because your friends ask you to caption their Instagram pictures doesn’t mean you have talent. You think you’ll never find any friends in LA. You so desperately want a group of friends that inspire, motivate, support, and love each other. You’re sitting in Starbucks (where you work almost every day), and you’re fighting back tears because you don’t want to cry in public again. You joke with friends and strangers about going through a quarter-life-crisis because it’s easier to laugh and joke about your vulnerability and pain than talk about it.

Things are hard. Okay, things are REALLY freaking hard. But, here’s the thing: It. Gets. Better.

I know what you’re thinking. “Are you serious, future Morgan? THAT’S your advice? Could you BE any more cliché?” First of all, Chandler, sometimes things are cliché because they’re true. And yes, I’m absolutely serious. Things will get better. Keep writing, learning, and seeking discomfort. Keep applying to jobs and reaching out to people for help. You’re gonna get rejected and ghosted and you’ll want to give up and move home. DON’T DO THAT. It just takes one. One person to reply, one person to offer you a phone screen, one person to read your work. And, guess what? It happened.

One person replied. They liked your work. They saw potential in you. You reminded them of themselves when they were first starting out. You landed an internship. You learned A LOT. You made some new friends and had a lot of laughs. You landed a Junior role at an agency that took a chance on a newbie. They said, “Don’t make us regret this.” They didn’t. The first time you got your work produced, you cried. You remembered how long it took you to get there. You once stayed at the office until 3am to finish a presentation. In the morning you were told the client decided to go in a different direction. You laughed.

You’ve been at it for 5 years now. You’ve won some awards, you’ve traveled — you’ve even moved again. You still have doubts and insecurities, but they keep you humble. You remember how hard it was when you were starting out so now you do as much as you can to help the kids trying to break in to advertising. (Oh yeah, you call them kids now.)

So, little 24 year old Morgan, don’t give up. Keep going to coffee shops and writing. Keep applying to jobs and reading as many books as you can. Keep going to networking events alone and messaging strangers on the Internet, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you. Everything will be okay. You will get a job. You will find your tribe. You will be successful.

There will be more hard times. But there will also be a lot of times, like today on your 30th birthday, that you are so deliriously happy, you wonder why you don’t always feel this way. Hold on to those moments. Keep working hard. Be nice to everyone. And always be grateful.

Love,

Future Morgan

If you want to see more of my work, you can do so here.

Thank you for reading. 

I love you.