When you act in favour of your past self, there are pros and cons:
Pros: Make up for mistakes made, validate insecurities.
Cons: Living in the past, struggling to move forward.
When you act in favour of your current self...
Pros: Immediate pleasure and return on investment, appreciation of what is in front of you.
Cons: Harm caused to our future self by poor choices, potentially less enjoyment down the line.
When you act in favour of your future self...
Pros: Investment made for future reward, development of discipline, delayed gratification.
Cons: The future is the only category that is not guaranteed.
Applied Self-Analysis
Weighing up these pros and cons can be difficult. It requires psychological maturity and a well-developed character. The current self is always going to try to dominate the others, which is why your decisions in life require your rational cognitive facilities, rather than simple pleasure-seeking.
When I talk to my clients about acting in a way that honours the love they express toward themselves, I try my best to consider how this might impact them in the future. The future self is you, and everything you say yes or no to now will impact that future self.
This is a different way of thinking about "living your best life". You can skip out on education and work a short-term job abroad in the sun if you want, and that will probably bring you great joy right now. You could also put your head down, study hard and push through difficult obstacles now, but that will probably bring you many miserable
days.
Long term, the latter case brings education, knowledge, stability, options, and hopefully more freedom. The former case often brings the opposite long term.
For these reasons, I try not to worry about whether I am having "fun" or "bored" in my day-to-day life. These words just don't mean much to me, as it's not how my psychology seems to work. I am more concerned with whether or not what I am doing has purpose/meaning now, and if it is a vote
for my future self. The analysis of both now + future is informed by my past self.
Is this the right analysis for you? I don't know. That's not my call. But, this is how my mind works, and maybe there is something useful in there for you.
