Your Future Self by Hal Hershfield

Author:Hal Hershfield [HERSHFIELD, HAL]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2023-07-06T00:00:00+00:00

BACK TO THE BOY ON THE CORN ROCKET SHIP

When it comes to relying on our current selves to make projections for the future, there are plenty of instances in which we make mistakes and pack the wrong clothes. Like the times when we fail to appreciate how the feelings we’re having in the moment won’t be the ones we’ll continue to experience indefinitely. We won’t always be this hungry, or cold, or anxious. Or the times when we don’t acknowledge how our future selves differ from the people we are now. My most-played list on Spotify won’t always feature a surplus of heavy songs by the National.

Returning to Greg Tietz, the man who got the Casa Sanchez tattoo in exchange for free burritos: Did his decision fall under one of these categories? Did he, in other words, end up regretting his tattoo?

When I asked him just this question, his answer was clear: “No way. I don’t regret it for an instant.”

The tattoo, he told me, “captures a specific moment in time”—a time when things were a little more carefree for him. While he certainly feels like his life now is good, he’s nonetheless more a part of the corporate world and can’t stay up until two or three in the morning, serving drinks, listening to great bands, and eating giant burritos on his days off. He takes comfort, though, in knowing that whenever he wants, he can look at his arm and be connected back to that particular time in his life.

Greg, like Dr. Miller’s wisest patients, saw that the younger version of himself was just one patch in his quilt of selves. Just as he’s changed from who he was to who he is, he’ll certainly continue to change as the years unfold. Greg hasn’t gotten any other tattoos, but he has thought about it. Maybe he’s just waiting for another offer of free food that he’ll want to eat for the rest of his life.

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