Daniel, this may be hard to believe but your future self is writing you this letter with some valuable advice. If you don’t believe me then here is some proof: you have an uncommon and embarrassingly accurate knowledge of the NBC sitcom Wings. Still need proof? Ok, you named your guitar Claire after an average-looking girl in your freshman english class at college whom you never got up the nerve to approach. Believe me now?
Sorry if that was a little harsh but believe me when I tell you that I am writing with good news.
I don’t know the rules of time-traveling letters, so I’m going to keep things kind of vague just in case Doc Brown was right in Back to the Future and you could mess up things for me now. If I end up like Biff Tanner waxing cars I’m coming back for you like Bruce Willis in Looper. You’ll get that joke in about 12 years.
So let’s see… first of all you are where you are supposed to be. I know you didn’t want to move to San Antonio and wanted to stay in College Station but your life was on pause in that town and no matter how much you loved working at Pack’n’Mail you weren’t going to turn that part time job into a career. I know you once wrote “The world tipped and I slid into this room.” and you feel like you had no options – that moving was somehow admitting failure. You are so wrong. You were like Jonah jumping into the whale’s mouth. What you think is a defeat is really the beginning a pretty cool story.
You will move out of your parent’s house. I know finances are tight and you’re working some weird jobs (don’t worry, not many people will find out about the bull semen thing) but things will pick up for you soon. You’ll finally graduate from college and start a career. I can’t say anymore about that except… I know how much you hate the Lakers right now and I suggest you hold on the that hate. It will work out well for you.
Snap out of it. You’re filling up notebooks with really sappy songs and poems right now but in a few years you’ll be glad to have an archive of how silly your feelings were back then. Sorry if that offends you, but it’s true. You’re being an idiot and you know you need to snap out of it.
The girl situation will become clearer as time goes by. I know you’ve gone through some heartache and that a lot of is is your own damn fault but it gets better. You will love, lose, and love again and while I can’t promise you any happy endings, I can promise that playing the game of love is worth everything it costs you.*
**Except for a girl you’re going to meet in class soon. She’s going to be super outgoing and nice and will volunteer to work with you on class projects. She’s just using you to get a good grade. I know you don’t think girls can be that manipulative and that’s sweet but there’s this place called Scottsdale that will require you be ready for that kind of behavior.**
Full disclosure… this advice still applies to me now. If I get a postcard from the even more distant future it will probably say something like:
“Snap out of it! … PS: Sell your Google stock quick!”
See Google becomes this… Never mind. I’ve said too much already.
Now, let’s talk about your weight. I know it’s a tough subject and that you’d prefer to ignore it but trust me that’s causing a lot more harm than you realize. It’s a cycle I know: You feel down so you eat and then you feel bad because of that so you eat. You’re treating food like an anti-depressant and frankly I think that’s a little too cliche for us. You can do better than that and the good news is that you do make some progress in your future, but not soon enough.
Make a choice to turn things around. It’s not going to be easy and there will be plenty of setbacks (beer, this place Chipotle, and more beer) but your future self will thank you. And not me, I mean your future self just on the other side of a workout. It’s like the opposite of the food thing – working out gives you energy to work out more. You’ll never truly understand this, and you’ll continue to be annoyed by friends who enjoy working out – but you’ll have to admit it’s true.
Now is the part of the letter where I say: Don’t do it for me, don’t do it for a girl, just do it for yourself! But honestly, do it for whatever reason will actually motivate you do do something. Do it or else you’re going to end up having a forklift operator’s number on the speed dial of your smart phone. Oh yeah, in the future most phones don’t flip closed but are larger and are mainly used to launch birds at green pigs.
So you’ve got a lot ahead of you kid and a lot of is an improvement on your life now. You’ve got places to see and great people to meet and experiences that will make you a very unique and lucky person. In the Bible (Thessalonians 5:21) it says “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” … I encourage you to do both of those things. You’ll find good and you’ll find evil. Both will be tempting to you but after you’ve tested them, hold on only to those good things that bring light and joy into your life and the lives of those around you.
Look to God because He’ll be there for you. You won’t always have clear direction but if you listen for it, you’ll be able to hear Him calling you towards something. See, little Daniel, your life isn’t just a journey. It’s a chase. Now start running!