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I regret to inform you that OhLife has been shut down as of October 19, 2014. Inquiries about the service may be made to [email protected].
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If you were to write your future self a letter, what would you say? Would you give yourself advice and inspiration? Would you preserve memories the might be later forgotten? Would you write about the tech you use now so you can laugh at it in the future?
If the idea of sending your future self a letter is appealing, then check out OhLife Time Capsule, a free service that will deliver your letter via email in the future, up to 10 years from when you send it.
When I was younger, my friend Michelle and I used to make predictions for our lives a year ahead, seal them in an envelope to be opened on the anniversary of when we wrote them. Our problem was that when we got together a year later we could never find the envelope!
You won’t have that problem with OhLife Time Capsule.
How OhLife Time Capsule Works
OhLife Time Capsule is a simple concept — write a letter to yourself and send it to your email address for delivery up to 10 years in the future.
To get started go to OhLife Time Capsule and:
• Type your letter to your future self
• Enter your email address
• Choose the date, up to 10 years from the date you send the letter
• Click Submit
Ideas for Your Time Capsule Letter
You can pen predictions of what life will be like for you 10 years from now to see if they come true.
You can give yourself a pep talk to appreciate all the good things in your life.
You can write about special times and people to capture memories.
What Else You Need to Know
→ Sending yourself an OhLife Time Capsule email is free, though a premium service is available for $5/year. The premium service includes features such as the ability to send yourself multiple letters, store your letters, add photos, schedule reminders to write more letters and other features.
→ Make sure you keep your same email address so that you’ll receive your Time Capsule email on the designated date. If the email address you use is connected to your Internet Service Provider or job, you may miss receiving your Time Capsule message far in the future.
Consider whether you should get an email address that won’t ever change no matter where you work or who provides your Internet service.
[tip] See, Email for Life! for tips on how to get an email address you don’t have to change, and why you should! [/tip]
→ OhLife promises not to spam. Sending yourself your Time Capsule letter shouldn’t result in your inbox being flooded with ads.
→ Your letter can only include text, no photos or videos. If you want to be reminded of a photo without upgrading to the premium account, you can add a link to a photo storage site such as Flickr. See, Flickr – The Solution to Your Photo Storage Issues for information on how you can get 1 TB (= 1000 GB) of free photo storage from Flickr.
→ Give yourself some time to write your letter. The farther ahead in time you schedule your letter to be received, the more changes will occur. If you’re looking towards the future, the predictions may be quite emotional. Allow yourself time and space to reflect upon this exercise.
I set my letter to be delivered for 10 years from now and then started writing. I realized that my beloved dog Astro would be gone by then (he turns 9 this year) and that my amazing daughters would be grown and have started their careers.
Many changes will occur in 10 years, some for the good and some for the not-so-good. And some changes that may seem not-so-good may turn out to be blessings in disguise.
Your Thoughts
Have you ever written a letter to yourself that you opened much later? Were your predictions correct? Are you going to give OhLife a try? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Hi Carolyn,
I suppose it would be a good idea. I am in a local history group and thought about burying a time capsule. Tech is difficult. If you buried a flash drive would they still be in use in 10 years time? I think SD cards will be and don’t take up much room.
I’ll send myself an email to myself in 10 years time. I could say “OK, sell the oil shares now! Buy solar!” 🙂
Hi Mike, You’re right, the media on which tech is stored changes frequently. Remember floppy disks? You wouldn’t want any important information still to be stored on those!
That’s why I like this method of sending information to yourself, I do believe we still will have email in 10 years. The question is whether you will still have the same email address. That’s why I recommend not tying your email address to your Internet service provider or your job. Both of those can change in 10 years!
Hi Carolyn,
You know I LOVE this! 🙂 I think writing this letter would be harder, though, that writing your life story in 400 words! I think the value in this is in thinking about it. As you said, you already know two things of the future. My Dad is turning 86 this summer. I don’t want to think too much ahead.
I think it is a cool app for perspective-taking. Whatever you project is bound to have an effect on what happens today and in the meantime, just because the exercise of writing the letter is an aspect of Intention-setting.
Maybe it would be a good idea to make a note somewhere on a calendar or something you’d see in 10 years time as likely receiving this email would come as a surprise.
🙂
Lori
Hi Lori, Great idea! If you’re using an online calendar then you could add an entry to remind you that the OhLife email is coming. Or you could surprise yourself. Do you think you would remember in 10 years? I don’t think I will…
You don’t have to go out 10 years. You could write one to yourself for a year and keep doing that each year if you want to. Some loved ones may not be around in 10 years, but thinking of that may make you cherish them more today.
I did get choked up as I wrote my letter. It’s an emotional exercise as we contemplate what the future holds for us.
Thanks so much for sharing your insights with us, Lori!
This is really interesting. Though I have not really thought about writing a letter to my future self I think I might just try this. Thanks for bringing this to my knowledge.
Hi Chadrack, Yes, I hadn’t thought about writing a letter to myself either but I went ahead and did it when I discovered OhLife. The process was much more meaningful than I had anticipated. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I did, Chadrack!
Call me skeptical or maybe pessimist but I just hope that the service mentioned remains alive till the date we choose. Considering there is no monetization involved, I doubt that.
Overall, it is a nice find. Not 10 years but I have written a letter to future self for 2016 🙂
Hi Rohit, You have an excellent point. There certainly is no guarantee that OhLife will be around in 10 years. How many websites in existence today are over 10 years old?
But there is a premium paid option available so the site does have at least a source for revenue generation.
Even a letter two years in the future would be a wonderful exercise. Let’s hope OhLife lasts a very long time!
Well I must say every time when I visit this blog I can notice a unique share here and that’s the reason I’m a regular reader here. Though I’ve subscribed lot of tech blogs but didn’t heard about the “ohlife time capsule” and it’s really cool.
Thanks for share.
Hi Samir, Thank you very much for your kind words. Yes, I do try to find unusual websites to help others. The Wonder of Tech is all about tech to make your life better and I think OhLife fits that purpose. I’m so glad you like it too and I hope you enjoy writing the letter to yourself, Samir.
Hi Carolyn,
This is really a good idea to send ourselves an e-mail simplifying what we see after 10 years from now. We all know we can’t just make an idea about it but still we can just imagine. If someone ask me then I will see like I have achieved something better which I always wanted to get. May me it’s my goal of life or may be something better than that.
Ohlife online capsule is a tech to give us an opportunity as you have discussed. Though I come to know about it only today. May be someday I will also try this to send e-mails to my own. 🙂
Have a nice weekend. 😉
~Ravi
Hi Ravi, Great point. OhLife really makes you think about where you want your life to be in the future. You can use this as a motivational tool to set your life goals and work towards them. Who knows? Perhaps you’ll exceed your goals in 10 years!
In the busy world of today’s we somehow find time for everyone and everything except for ourselves. Writing letter to our future self is a very nice thought. I will be surely doing that and i guess it will be pretty challenging and i will get to know a lot many things about myself.
Thanks a lot for sharing such a wonderful post.
Hi Frank, Excellent observation. You’re right, you really are taking a personal journey when you write your letter to yourself. You examine your life, your relationships and your goals and think about where you might be in 10 years. You can learn a lot about yourself and what’s important to you by doing this exercise.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Frank, and I hope you enjoy your journey of writing your letter!
Hey Carolyn,
That’s certainly a great service started with amazing concept. I remember a story 2 friends decide to meet after 10 years to see how they progressed in their life. Whether they achieved their goals or not. This service reminds me same thing.
Hi Pankaj, You’re right, great service and great concept. Good point, you could have reunions with people every 10 years and write a letter to them instead!
Hi Carolyn,
That’s an interesting service. I haven’t thought about writing that letter, but I believe that I’ve watched a movie where that happened. It’s an interesting thought, now that I’m thinking about it. I would probably write down some of my present goals, and write down why I have those goals, so when I read the letter in the future, I’ll see if things have changed and see if I’m still the same person or if I have «moved» on.
I would write down the most important parts of my life, and share it with the future me, to compare what’s been happening along the way.
-Jens
Hi Jens, I hope you do have an opportunity to write yourself a letter. You’re at such an important junction in your life with your business and the vegetarian festival. Who knows where you will be with both endeavors in 10 years?
I personally liked the concept of ohlife capsule as I usually use future sms service to get reminder of future things to my mobile directly.
I’ll surely check Ohlife soon.
Thanks
Hi Rajkumar, Yes, there may be other services that do the same thing. I wonder though if you’re more likely to have the same phone number or same email address in 10 years though?
Hi Carolyn,
I often see things like this on television. When they were boys, they bury a letter in the soil, and then a few years later they picked it up and looked inside. It looks like drama, I think. 🙂
I’ve never done, or rather not have thought about it, he he .. 😀
I think 10 years is too long for me. Maybe if 2 or 3 years will feel like a promise that must be kept. And it could keep me motivated as well.
Nice information, Carolyn. :-bd
Thanks for sharing this and have a nice day.
Nanda
Hi Nanda, Yes, you definitely could set a date that’s sooner, such as 2-3 years ahead. Great idea to use OhLife to keep yourself motivated towards achieving your goals! :-bd
Hey Carolyn,
Huh! What would I say to my future self. That’s a darn good question but what I would probably do is just write it out, put it in an envelope and put it here in my house where it’s safe for me to open at a later date. That’s what I would have probably done but knowing this service is free and I’ve had my personal email address for 16 years now it’s pretty safe to say I’ll have it another 10 years.
I just might have to think about that.
Today is my Mom’s 89th birthday and I keep giving her a hard time that she’s going to live to almost be 100. Not sure if she’ll actually make it but she’s still in very good shape so I can see her being around for another good 10 years. Maybe I need to write something to her for 10 years from now like “I told you so”. LOL!!!
Love this, thanks for sharing it and now you’ve got me to thinking.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, That would be a wonderful treat for your mom, for her to get an email message from you on her 99th birthday!
That’s great you’ve had the same email address for 10 years. Chances are you’ll have it for another 10 years then. You’re right, you can put your letter in an envelope to open in 10 years, but you may lose the envelope or forget to open it. With this free service you don’t have to worry about either of those things.
The exercise of writing the letter can be very moving. When you think about what you want the next 10 years to bring you really reflect on your entire life.
I hope you enjoy the process, Adrienne!
Hi Carolyn,
I am going to try it out just after this comment, it’s a great tool. 🙂
So, What am I going to do?
“You can pen predictions of what life will be like for you 10 years from now to see if they come true.”
I will predict my future, since I have just passed my school. I wanna predict where i will be after 10 years.
Hi Anarag, Congratulations on your graduation! What a perfect time to pen a letter to yourself about your next 10 years. I wish that all of your dreams will come true!