Letter to 17-year-old Darrell

Recently, I was listening to a best-of segment of the Free Beer and Hot Wings show, and they replayed a segment in which each of the guys read a letter he had written to the 17-year-old version of himself.  (I actually remembered hearing the segment when it originally aired, but it didn’t provoke thought then; rather, it provoked only laughter.)  I started thinking about what I might write to the younger version of me….

Dear Darrell at 17,

Greetings from the future.  You’re going to learn and see a lot over the next several years of your life.  There are some mistakes that you could probably avoid, though, that might make your life slightly less complicated.  Here’s some advice for you.

* Learn to drink coffee.  You’ll find out that you like fancy coffee, and you’ll be picking up years of enjoyment if you start drinking it sooner.

* Don’t stop running.  In fact, when you show up at college, you should start training for 5K races.  It will spare you the gaining of all sorts of weight that your doctor will eventually want you to lose.  You’re also a lot faster than the 33-year-old version of you, and you will win more awards and stuff if you keep running now.  Go find a training program.

* Learn to say, “No.”  Once you have learned that skill, apply it liberally.  You’ll otherwise tell everyone, “Yes,” every time they ask for something.  In addition, you’ll tell yourself that you have time to do the things that you think are good causes, only to leave yourself thinking you don’t have time to sleep if you’re going to accomplish the things you need to do.

* Be careful of attachments.  You’ll find that you really can’t trust a lot of the people you’ll initially think you can.  You’ll be much better off if you start out being more cautious.

* Learn to fence.  You’ll buy a fancy replica lightsabre someday; you’ll want to be able to use it as much as you can.

* Don’t be a pack rat.  You don’t need half the stuff you will keep, so just start getting rid of it early, so you won’t have to do so later.

That’s all from here … for now, anyway.  Try not to screw things up too much.  I’ll be here waiting for you.

Sincerely,

Darrell at 33