Writing a letter to the past

20/01/2023 Nilson Lattari

A lot of people, sometimes, imagine they could go back to the past. Me too. How many people wouldn’t like to travel through time to land at the moment they think when their lives changed? That moment when they chose the way that modified their lives. I also imagine these trips through time, and my imagination arrives at these points.
Hypothetically, we can imagine a situation when we would send a letter to ourselves, thirty, twenty or ten years in the past. I would send my letter further in time because I am sixty. I could send myself a letter forty years ago, and I would try to live my life again after it.
First of all, I would warn myself to give up doing jiu-jitsu because I have a problem in my spinal column and this disease will appear in the future, then this time would be wasted. But I would dedicate this time to exercise with more dedication. I would find time for it. I would eat better, and would reinforce this information: don’t forget it, please. It’s important.
I would read more, no doubt, and I could be a better person, in the future, more cultured. I would fall in love more times even if my heart suffered from love pains. I would say “I love you” more times because love is good for the soul, and I would have history to remember them. I would love without losing my self-respect. Would it be possible? I think that I would do it again.
I would choose the same professional life that I have, but I would be more ambitious. I would believe in it, and it would have the opportunity to whisper in my ears: Believe and don’t give up!
I would warn that shyness is a feeling that belongs to weak people, and only bold people who want more and more goals need to be brave, no doubt. I would travel more to know more people and places, and I would have more memories to remember in the future. My life would be richer and more full of history, and more “weight” of remembrances as if time would travel slower.
I don’t know if I would warn myself to give up believing in utopias. I would let this dream go on like a gift for my past. These theories fed our minds, our youth, and this dream when the wealth in the world would be equal for all. Even if this wealth was disguised in a strange political regime because freedom doesn’t exist, and nobody can give us it. Because freedom is an eternal search, and it gives meaning to our lives. I wouldn’t take it from myself.
I would hug my parents more times, the best characters of my life. Although we had fought a lot of times they forged my personality, and I loved them so much.
This opportunity would be magic if we could talk to our past like a father giving instructions and at the same time I would forget some prescriptions so I would have more life experiences because they happen for our good.
If we could communicate our past and preserve some surprises for the future, good or not, it would be wonderful. Living is opening a door and having surprises. Sending a letter does not mean opening doors but I would keep some of them closed. I would do it.