Handwritten Futures
A modern ritual to intentionally shape your year ahead
Reflect, release, reorient, and write a letter to your 2026 self
Join our webinar Friday 19th December at 12pm GMT
Before the year disappears, pause and choose what comes next.
One minute you're full of plans, the next you're wondering where the time went and what, if anything, really shifted.
In midlife, that question carries more weight. The wins don’t land like they used to. The losses linger longer. And somewhere beneath the busyness, a quiet question still calls:
What actually matters now?
This session is a chance to stop. To step out of the noise and look back at 2025 with honesty and kindness before rushing into another year.
You won’t be setting goals or making a vision board.
Instead, you’ll write a letter.
By hand. On paper. To the person you’re becoming in 2026.
You’ll seal it in an envelope. And open it this time next year.
This is a ritual, and rituals matter.
They help us slow down, mark change, and pay attention to what really matters.
That’s why we write by hand. To make intention tangible.
Why a handwritten letter?
Because there's something about putting pen to paper that bypasses all the usual noise.
No autocorrect. No editing. No deleting and starting again. Just your hand, moving across the page, capturing what's true right now.
Research backs this up. Writing to your future self helps clarify what matters to you, strengthens your sense of purpose, and creates a tangible connection between who you are now and who you're becoming. It's not about receiving the letter a year from now - it's about the act of writing it.
And in a world where everything lives in the cloud, there's something quietly rebellious about creating something that's yours alone. No algorithm will read it. No one will optimise it for engagement. It's just for you.
What we’ll do together
Reflect: We’ll guide you through a structured reflection on the year that’s passed so you don’t have to work out where to start or what to think about.
Release: With simple prompts, you’ll name what no longer fits and gently let go of what you’ve been carrying forward by default.
Reorient: We’ll create a quiet, protected space to listen for what’s calling you next, without rushing to conclusions or answers.
Write your letter: You’ll write a personal letter to your future self (dated December 2026) in your own handwriting. You won’t be staring at a blank page; you’ll be guided every step of the way.
Close with intention: We’ll finish together as a group, sharing reflections and commitments. The shared energy of the Happy Startup community helps turn good intentions into something you’re far more likely to honour.
This is about carving out time you rarely give yourself and doing it in a way that feels supported, structured, and surprisingly energising.
This is work you really want to do. And it’s work most people don’t end up doing alone.
Who this is for
People in midlife who are:
coming out of a rollercoaster year,
feeling the nudge (or shove) towards something new,
tired of drifting into the next chapter by accident,
craving clarity, meaning, and a sense of direction,
wanting to be more intentional with their second half of life.
If you've been quietly asking “Is this it?” or “What’s next for me?” - this is for you.
What you’ll need
Nice paper (a card, a sheet of letter paper - something that feels good to hold)
An envelope
A pen you like writing with
A space for uninterrupted quiet
Don't have nice stationery? No worries - we found these lovely correspondence cards for £1.50 including postage.
What you'll take away
A 90 minute live, guided experience
Held in real time, with a clear structure and prompts so you can relax into the process without overthinking it.A handwritten letter to your future self
Written during the session, sealed and dated December 2026. A tangible reminder of what mattered to you at this point in your life.Clarity and a sense of inner direction
Not a plan or a goals list, but a grounded feeling of what you want to move towards and what you’re ready to leave behind.The energy of doing this together
A shared moment with others in the Happy Startup community, creating momentum, connection, and gentle accountability.A PDF of the guided prompts
Sent afterwards so you can revisit the process in your own time or repeat the ritual with a partner, friends, or family.A pause that actually sticks
This isn’t content to consume and forget. It’s a moment you mark. Something you’ll return to when you open your letter next year.
A gentle note on what this is (and isn’t)
This is not a course or a productivity workshop. There’s no recording, replay, or ongoing programme.
That’s intentional.
This is a ceremony. A contained moment designed to help you stop, reflect, and set an intention you’ll carry forward in your own way.
For some, it will be a meaningful one-off.
For others, it will be the start of a deeper conversation with themselves. And with us.
Join the Handwritten Futures webinar
Friday 19th December 12pm GMT
If you want to step into 2026 with more intention than you managed in 2025 and ride that momentum together with others, we’d love to see you.
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The midlife rennaisance
We were joined on our podcast by Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy and best-selling author of one of the best books for midlife, Learning to Love Midlife: How to Embrace What’s Next. Chip offered profound insights from his work and personal journey, showing how midlife is not a crisis but an opportunity to curate the rest of your life with more intention, joy, and freedom.
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Redefining success
When was the last time you stopped to define what success means to you? Redefining success isn’t about throwing away what you’ve built. It’s about consciously choosing what fits - and releasing what doesn’t. If you’re feeling that familiar tug, that sense that there might be another way to live and work, you’re not imagining it.
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The second mountain
Many of us spend our lives on what David Brooks calls the first mountain. Happiness here tends to be individual. Some never leave this place. Whereas others come to the realisation that the first mountain wasn’t their mountain after all, and maybe there’s another mountain that’s actually theirs. One that doesn’t mean rejecting the first chapter of their life, but seeing it as the journey after that that counts.