Avoidance
Writing a Letter from a Future Self About Continued Avoidance
This task creates cognitive dissonance by having the client articulate the long-term consequences.
Some clients are intellectually aware of the downsides of their avoidance but remain emotionally disconnected from the long-term effects. They can describe the problem but can’t feel the future cost of their current inaction. This disconnect often presents as ambivalence or a persistent feeling of being stuck, even when they express a desire for change.
This task guides the client to articulate the specific, long-term consequences of staying the course, using their own voice. The process creates a productive friction between their current choices and their deeper values. They are left with a tangible, self-authored account of the true cost of their avoidance.
Writing a Letter from a Future Self About Continued Avoidance
Set aside time to write a letter. The letter is from a version of you ten years in the future.
This future self has continued to avoid the same things you avoid now. They have not made the changes you are considering. Their life is the direct result of this continued avoidance.
Write the letter from their perspective, to you today.
Describe what their life is like. What has happened? What has not happened? Detail the costs of inaction over the last ten years. What relationships, opportunities, or states of being have been affected? What does this future person think about their past self, the person you are now?
Write what they would want you to know. Do not write what you hope they would say. Write what they would actually say, given their situation. Read it over when you are finished.
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