Ariane,

It’s Ariane, reaching out to you from the future. First, congratulations, you’ve lived past 37. I know you had a sense you wouldn’t live past your thirties; you were wrong – you’re already much older. You didn’t become an Architect or work in a gallery, and those statistics about average time people stay at their first job, didn’t apply to you.

In fact, not only did you stay over 9 years, but you were also literally the last person in the company; even the owners stopped coming. You aren’t married or have kids, just as you thought, and you’ve been living in NYC for over a dozen years. Your plan to move to Bora Bora and open up a fruit stand is even more appealing now as it was then.

Your idea to create and sell postcards never took off and these days, not many people use the USPS for mailing letters or cards. Even holiday cards are digital. Your typing has vastly improved. You’d totally laugh at how fast you type.

No longer need just as much time to type as to write your papers. You’ll be happy you didn’t make plans – even when everyone pushed and asked for your long-term plans. If you’d believe you get connected to an author whose books you read in the 90s.

Life is a strange adventure and everything you’ve done and not done is what’s gotten you here. One small “accidental” change shifted your life. Your favorite person on the planet passes away and is now your guardian angel.

He’s kind of taken over and all the advice he gave that you didn’t follow is now happening. You’ll end up wherever you ought to be; just continue making your choices and living an intentional life. As the your wise guardian angel often said, the best thing you can do is to help others. 

 Ariane