An Exclusive Guest Post from Matt Haig, author of The Comfort Book

The future happens. I know that sounds like an extreme case of stating the obvious but there are times — and there certainly have been times in my own life – where I have struggled to believe in the future. For instance, and I don’t want to get too heavy and turn this into a therapy session, but when I was 24 years old I genuinely couldn’t see myself being alive at the age of 25. I had fallen into depression and panic disorder and genuinely believed – in the complete way that depression can make you feel such things – that there was no way out. That I was trapped inside a version of myself that would never change. Now, I would be lying if I hadn’t known bad times since then. Of course I have. I have also fallen into depression and anxiety from time to time. The difference is though, I now believe in change and my future self far more than I did when I listened to my depression. Depression lies. And its lies are disproved by time. Not only did I live to see 25, I lived to see 45. And one thing that helps me now is a belief in the unknowability of the future. We don’t stay precisely the same person. There are future versions of you, and they will be thankful you lasted through every rock bottom moment. You can’t know precisely who your future self will be, but that is the point. The future is uncertain. But one thing that is certain is change. And we need faith in our changing self. We need hope. We can believe in our future self and even write to our future self. I did that once, as a therapeutic exercise, when I was in recovery and wanting to be a writer. I even told myself I would one day be a published writer. So yes, think about and write to the person you will be. Head towards those words like a boat sails towards a lighthouse. The future is waiting.