A Letter from Myself to… Myself

I remember when I was an Ocean Lifeguard at YMCA Camp Surf a few years ago – our Executive Director had all the counselors write a letter to themselves at the beginning of their time at camp and, upon handing them out at the end of the summer, it was incredibly surprising and intriguing to read something my younger self had written to the more mature, experienced me. So, Zach suggested we do something similar on here. I thought it was a good idea. So here we go.

“Hey dude, Well shit! You made it. Wherever you are. Even if you quit, at least you tried. If you’re on Katahdin…  WOOP WOOP!! You rock. You just walked 2,200 miles through America’s back-fucking-yard. Yeehaw. If not, at least you tried. There are like, 329,998,500 in this country who didn’t this year. But seriously, wherever you are, you’re a badass. How many people can say they even attempted to do something as kick ass as hiking the Appalachian Trail? Right on. As he writes this, your old self is at your front desk job at the Y in Asheville. Aren’t you so glad you left? It was probably one of the worst jobs in the world. Remember that stupid black polo shirt? Or how about Farm Burger? “Our burgers are medium with a warm, red center – is that OK?” Over and over and over again. No human with as much creativity and awesomeness as you have should ever have to endure such a mockery of existence. But you did – and you’re a better person for it. You worked 14 hour days. You worked 16 hour days. Your worked 4 14 hour days a week for an entire summer. Then you spent all that money on building a website. You founded a non-profit. You spent 60 hours of your life outside of work filing a 501(c)(3) application. And you still saved enough money to hike.  Like, whoa. You, sir, really can do anything you’re determined to do. Remember how worried you were about your knees? That was just you being anxious. Of course they held up fine. And if they didn’t, at least you didn’t let some silly knees stop you from attempting something this awesome. Trust me, I’m jealous of the person you’ve become and the experiences I know you had, because I just had to show some guy how to get around the YMCA for the 239872345 time this year. Learn your own effing way around the gym, bro. I hope you got to read those books. I hope you drank a fuckton of beer. I hope you meditated on top of mountains and did yoga and laughed at anything and everything worth it. I hope you found love – whether it be more for yourself, for another human being, or just for life in general. I hope you found yourself. And if none of those things happened, it doesn’t even matter, you just hiked on the Appalachian mother-effin Trail. Not knowing what has happened over the last 6 months for you,  just how much you’ve changed, and the extent of the awesomeness you’re feeling right now, all I can say is “YOU FUCKING ROCK!!!!” Seriously. I love you, future self. Nothin’ but good tunes, smooth sailin’, and crunchy vibes for you from here on out. Get some!” Ok guys. I’m not going to read this until the day I get off the trail. Whenever, wherever, and however that is. Sweet. Alright. Later.