To my 12-year-old self
- Get a couple of mentors to help you build self-confidence and develop social skills
- Get contact lenses ASAP (you did this at age 13, but 12 would have spared you the turmoils of 7th grade to a large degree…such as having the thickest glasses in Holly Hill Junior High, and being the quintessential Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dork)
- Ask your dad more questions about his life
- Don’t take yourself too seriously
- Befriend people who aren’t like you
- Insist that your parents get you help with your speech impediment
- Practice at the batting cage a lot more, and get some off-season coaching on your stance and swing
To my 16-year-old self
- Invest in a few quality friends who can be friends for life, including people who aren’t like you
- Get involved in some kind of school extra-curricular activity, and stick with it; spend more time doing things like this than drinking in the woods with acquaintances
- Persist in your book writing
- Get another mentor or two, especially regarding the on-ramp to college (because you were clueless)
- Take a look at your depression, anger, control, and anti-authority issues, with the help of a mental health professional
- Accept that any girl you fall in love with is not likely to be “the one,” and ask out a lot more girls
- Prioritize school work over your part-time job and car payments
- Don’t blow off time with your dad
- Don’t listen to so much classic rock all the time; diversify into more genres
To my 20-year-old self
- Study abroad
- Keep writing books; in fact, commit to the writing life now and don’t get psyched out by fear or comparisons
- Get another mentor or two who can help you evaluate your options for college majors
- Build on what you learned in your freshman interdisciplinary honors program, especially Joseph Campbell’s ideas
- Date other people besides just one girl
- Open your mind more toward diversity
- Don’t rush the college experience
- Practice getting better at taking standardized tests
- Invest in a few additional quality friends who can be friends for life, including people who aren’t like you
- Explore spiritual growth with careful study and practice
To my 24-year-old self
- Travel; especially to Europe and to Oregon
- Keep writing books
- You’ve had three back-to-back serious relationships without a break; make a valid effort at being single
- Take more chances on career options and where you choose to live
- Get your own apartment, even if you think you can’t afford it, instead of living back home in Ormond Beach with your parents
- Don’t just work all of the time
- Invest in a few more quality friends who can be friends for life, including people who aren’t like you
- Get a dog
- Put as much as possible into savings
- Continue to explore spiritual growth with an open mind
To my 29-year-old self
- Travel more
- Keep writing books
- Keep cultivating the friendships you’ve already made while always remaining open to new ones
- Spend extra time thinking through longer-term career ambitions (i.e., are seminary and ministry really the best calling for you?)
- Invest in some property and hang onto it
To my 35-year-old self
- Think carefully about your next career option, and don’t make decisions in isolation because of fear of what others will think
- Keep investing in friendships
- Travel even more!
- Keep writing books (you start doing this again at age 37, so why not start at 35 instead?)
- See your dad more, since you only have two years left with him
To my 40-year-old self
- Yes, keep investing in friendships
- Yes, travel
- Yes, keep writing books (you’re doing this consistently now, so keep at it)
To my 47-year-old (current) self
- Don’t linger too much in the past or hoped-for future; just live the moment to its fullest
- Above all things, be compassionate, honest, loving, and patient with others; those close to you, and those who happen to cross your path
- Continue to eat well and exercise a lot
- Continue to learn
- Continue to strengthen your professional knowledge and skills
- Continue to travel (more Europe, get to Hawaii, Vermont, and Maine, and see a lot more of Oregon)
- Continue to write (you’re polishing up your fifth book in less than 10 years)
- Continue to save money and spend it wisely, and embrace a mindset of plenty vs. scarcity
