Dear Best Version Of Myself,

In a weird, contradictory sense, I hope I never stop chasing the idea of you. Of course, I'd like to someday embody you just as you are. I think my amount of potential is ever-changing and growing more and more. Just as there is a certain "best" I can achieve today, it's going to exist tomorrow in a possibly entirely different sense.

But let's not get ahead of myself. Let's talk about today.

Sure, it's easy to think about everything I could be doing right now to improve the person that I am, but those things are always going to work in progress. Especially on a larger, sort of character development scale, there is never a deadline that I must reach over the course of my life to be all of the qualities I should ever hope to encompass. In fact, there really is no limit to these things.

What matters is that I make my best attempt at what I think is the best version of myself today, right? And that shouldn't look like you quite as much as I want it to right now.

The trickiest thing about this is that no matter whether or not I feel as though I've done absolutely everything in my power to be just like you if I'm really in the most progressive mindset possible, I'm always going to feel like there's more to improve. And again in that same contradictory sense, fortunately, and unfortunately, the work is never done. And yet, I still like to think you're attainable.

And that's why there's this funny thing called complacency. I don't think it exists in every area of anyone's life; and where it may occur in mine, it's certainly not for too long. Part of becoming more like you is finding a balance of acknowledging the fact that I've excelled in the areas of my life that may have needed more work than others while also staying humble.

Naturally, I want fulfillment in my life. I want to know that I've done all I can to be kind, patient, unconditionally loving, intelligent, tenacious, and the countless other traits I admire in my role models. I choose to blame my youthful pride for the desire to feel like this sooner than at the end of my life.

Instead of self-gratifying, I think these things will be reflected in everything surrounding me throughout my life. If I'm a good person, I can only hope that those qualities will attract equally good people. The time and effort and heart I put into my studies and projects and profession will advance me in terms of opportunity. Maybe I won't see these things for what they truly are until after the fact, but I'd like to believe that that's part of you. I don't need to be aware of my being you. I just need to keep going, keep striving, keep being.

Love,

A Prospective You